Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs in Lettuce Wraps

"From Food & Wine, June 2006 (recipe credited to Jennifer Joyce)"
 
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photo by Aelie C. photo by Aelie C.
photo by Aelie C.
photo by mianbao photo by mianbao
Ready In:
45mins
Ingredients:
17
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°. Position a rack in the top third of the oven.
  • In a food processor, pulse the chicken until coarsely ground; transfer to a bowl.
  • Add the fish sauce, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, chopped cilantro and mint, cornstarch, salt and pepper and mix with your hands.
  • Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Spread the sugar on a plate.
  • Using slightly moistened hands, roll the chicken mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls.
  • Roll the meatballs in the sugar until they are evenly coated.
  • Transfer the meatballs to the prepared baking sheet and bake them for 15 minutes, until they are lightly browned and cooked through.
  • Meanwhile, arrange the lettuce, cilantro and mint leaves, cucumber and onion on a platter.
  • Transfer the meatballs to the platter and serve with chili sauce.

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Reviews

  1. Very good! I love the combination of flavors. The fish sauce and sugar coating say authentic to me. I had to substitute dried mint for fresh in the meatballs, and skip it in the wraps, and also used green onion instead of shallots. I mixed up the meat mixture (using pre-ground chicken) the day before, shaped it into meatballs, and refrigerated it. The next morning, I coated the meatballs with sugar (only needed about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the finely ground white sugar I get here), and baked them. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe with us.
     
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Tweaks

  1. Very good! I love the combination of flavors. The fish sauce and sugar coating say authentic to me. I had to substitute dried mint for fresh in the meatballs, and skip it in the wraps, and also used green onion instead of shallots. I mixed up the meat mixture (using pre-ground chicken) the day before, shaped it into meatballs, and refrigerated it. The next morning, I coated the meatballs with sugar (only needed about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the finely ground white sugar I get here), and baked them. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe with us.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

My husband and I married straight out of college in July of 1992. I work as the Assistant Manager at a wine shop which allows me to drink on the job! (OK, not that much, but it's still a fun job...) Besides helping customers choose wine they will like (and also help with food and wine pairings for their menus), I also get to help with the catering end of the business, so I get to spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen making fun appetizers and beautiful food displays. I also work part-time at the fromagerie next door. So yeah - that means I eat on the job, too. :^D We live on several peaceful wooded acres on a cute little river in rural NE Wisconsin, with a cranky old-lady Burmese and whatever stray outdoor cats that have decided to adopt us on any given day. The cute puppy in the picture is Jake, our Elhew-bred English Pointer that we brought home on Easter weekend 2007. I've also got 2 painted turtles named Dennis and Fuzz, and a bunch of fish (koi and goldfish, along with the guppies & swordtails in the turtle tank). I USUALLY eat and cook healthy, but I rarely pass up dessert, either. I do not eat red meat, and try to limit other animal products, too. I love to bake, although I seem to collect a lot of scone and biscotti recipes which I NEVER get around to making. I bake and eat A LOT of cookies and muffins... I almost always reduce the sugar by 1/4 and use whole wheat pastry flour for at least part of the flour. Those two changes do so much to make recipes healthier without compromising taste. I try to reduce fat whenever I can, too, but while I want to eat healthy, I still want to ENJOY what I eat!!! I seem to give a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews here - I seem to have a pretty good sense of what I like by looking at a recipe before I try it. Thank you to anyone that tries my recipes in return, or photographs them. Amber: <img src="http://netnet.net/~mkburie/amber2.jpg"> ........And a grown up Jake (one year old in January 2008) :) - <img src="http://netnet.net/~mkburie/JAKE111307.JPG"> Charlotte (May 27, 1992-June 1, 2009): <img src="http://netnet.net/~mkburie/Charlott.jpg"> Ashley: Adopted October 8, 1996 - Passed Away January 6, 2009 <img src="http://netnet.net/~mkburie/ashley2.jpg"> Mike: September 26, 1994 - March 19, 2004<img src="http://netnet.net/~mkburie/mike1997-lr.JPG">.... <a href='http://www.niftymaps.com/visitor-map.php?id=36321'><img src='http://i.niftymaps.com/36321.png' alt='Click to zoom in on my visitor map!' border='0'></a>Create your free world <a href='http://www.niftymaps.com/' target='_blank'>visitor maps</a>
 
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