Spicy Pork Balls

Name: Spicy Pork Balls
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: pinch of caster sugar; 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced; 1 tablespoon fish sauce; 2 tablespoons lime juice; 4 bird’s-eye chillies, finely chopped; 2 chillies, preferably Thai bird’s-eye, finely sliced; ½ lemongrass stalk; small handful of coriander, ideally with roots, finely chopped; 400 g/14 oz free-range minced pork; good pinch of freshly ground black pepper; handful of Thai basil, finely chopped; handful of mint, finely chopped; 2 iceberg lettuces, leaves separated, to serve; 2 tablespoons groundnut oil

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Let's Eat

By Tom Parker Bowles

Published 2013

About

This Thai dish is good for snack or starter. It’s hard to find minced free-range pork from the butcher, but do search it out. It’s far preferable to the insipid supermarket stuff. The herbs, as ever, lift the dish from the everyday to the exquisite, while the iceberg lettuce, much maligned, adds cool crunch.

Ingredients

2 chillies, preferably Thai bird’s-eye, finely sliced
½ lemongrass stalk
small handful of coriander

Asia
Thailand
Snack
Starter
South East Asia
Spicy
Gluten-free

Method

Crush the chillies, lemongrass, herbs and black pepper in a pestle and mortar or a blender. Mix well with the minced pork.

Shape the mixture into about 20 small balls (wet your hands so the mixture doesn’t stick).

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the balls all over for 8–10 minutes, until cooked inside. Cut one in half; it should be evenly coloured with no