Thai Meatballs

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Takes quite a few ingredients, but should be fairly staple items in your kitchen!

Can be a salad protein, lettuce wrap, with rice or just eat them straight up!

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Ingredients:

• 1 inch Ginger, grated

• 4 + 1 Garlic cloves, grated or minced or pressed through garlic press

• 1 lb Ground Pork

• 1 tsp Salt

• 1/4 cup + 1/2 tbsp Cilantro, chopped

• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp Sambal Oelek

• 2 tbsp Fish sauce, divided

• 2 tsp Brown or Palm Sugar, divided

• 1/4 cup Lime juice (half a lime)

Optional:

• More Sambal Oelek if you like it spicier!

What’s Next:

1. Add grated ginger, 4 garlic cloves, salt, 1/4 cup cilantro, 2 tbsp Sambal Oelek, 1 tbsp fish sauce and 1 tsp sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add ground pork and mix well. Let rest / marinate for 30 minutes or up to 8 hours. (Don’t put away the sauces and sugars just yet, you’ll need them again for next step)

2. Mix lime juice, 1 grated/minced garlic clove, 1/2 tbsp cilantro, 1 tsp Sambal Oelek, 1 tbsp fish sauce and 1 tsp sugar in a small bowl for the dipping sauce

3. You can either grill them on skewers or roast them in the oven. If you are grilling them (remember to soak your wooden skewers ahead of time!), form a flat oval shape across 2 skewers, so it doesn’t spin around on the grill. If you’re roasting in oven, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil, for the meatball in an oval shape on your palm, then press the meat balls onto the foil

4. Drizzle with some oil and grill for 7-9 minutes, turning occasionally until lightly charred, or roast for 15-20 minutes until the surface is lightly charred

5. Serve warm with the dipping sauce on the side

Korean BBQ Pork

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Again, not claiming any authenticity with recipe. But this is simple enough to me to make a delicious dish!

You’ll be surprised how close this gets to restaurant level!

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Required Equipment:

• Food Processor / Blender

Ingredients:

• 1 small White Onion, coarsely diced

• 1/4 cup Gochujang

• 1/4 cup Gochugaru

• 2 tbsp Brown Sugar

• 2 tbsp Mirin

• 2 tbsp Soy Sauce

• 1/2 inch Ginger, sliced

• 5 Garlic cloves, sliced

• 1 lb Pork (Depends on your preference and available produce, can be belly or pork shoulder or mix of both), thinly sliced

Optional:

• Sesame seeds, garnish

• Lettuce leaves, for wrap

• Scallions, garnish

• Rice, side

What’s Next:

1. Add basically all ingredients except pork (onion, gochujang, gochugaru, sugar, mirin, soy sauce, ginger, garlic) into the blender or food processor. Pulse until smooth

2. Mix the marinade with the pork slices in a large mixing bowl or container, let sit for 4 hours to overnight (you can easily prepare this 1-2 days ahead of time and leave marinating in the fridge)

3. You can either grill, cook on cast iron on stove or broil! Just make sure you’ve fully cooked through the meat and get some char

4. Garnish with lettuce leaves, scallions, sesames, rice or enjoy on its own!

Sambal Shrimp + Pork Lettuce Wrap

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The first time I made it, it was already a huge success. Perfect balance of heat, tang and savor. This is really 2 recipe, but if you like shrimp and pork, why not make both and have a bit more fun mix + matching?

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Ingredients:

• Lettuce leaves, Washed and slightly dried

• 1/2 to 1 White radish, peeled

• 1 Cucumber

• 1/2 cup Rice vinegar

• 2-3 tbsp Fish sauce

• 3 tbsp white sugar

• 2 tbsp salt

• 1 Lime, wedged

  Shrimp

• 1 1/2 lb large shrimp

• 1/2 cup Sambal Oelek

• 1/4 cup Honey

• 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

• 2 tsp Sesame oil

• 1-2 tbsp Vegetable or Olive oil

Pork

• 1 lb Ground pork

• 2 tbsp Soy sauce

• 1 tbsp Dark brown sugar or Coconut / Palm sugar

• 1 tsp Fish sauce

• 2 tbsp Sambal Oelek

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 3 scallions, thinly sliced, use only white and pale green parts if you can

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Optional:

• Scallions / Basil Leaves / Mint / Cilantro / Toasted Peanuts for garnish

What’s Next:

Pickling the veggies

1. Mix salt onto radish and cucumber in a colander in the sink or onto a plate/bowl, let sit for 15 minutes and for water content to drain slightly

2. Transfer the now softened radish and cucumber into a mixing bowl

3. Mix in sugar, vinegar and fish sauce. Let sit for 15 minutes, in fridge if you like your pickles chilled!

Shrimp

1. Mix Sambal, honey, vinegar, 2 tsp of sesame oil in a small bowl to combine

2. Transfer shrimp to a small mixing bowl, spoon over just enough sauce to coat all the shrimps. Let marinate for 30 minutes

3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until shimmering.

4. Lay the shrimp onto the skillet to cook, undisturbed for 2 minutes, until the sugar has caramelized. Turn shrimp over and cook for another 30 seconds or so. Transfer to plate

Pork

1. Mix soy sauce, brown sugar, fish sauce and sambal in a small bowl, set aside

2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium. Add scallions and ginger and cook, stirring slightly until fragrant, until golden.

3. Add ground pork and lightly season with salt. Use a wooden spoon to break up the ground pork and toss slightly.

4. After the pork is cooked through, 7-10 minutes. Add the reserved sauce and toss until all coated. Remove from pan when almost all liquid has been reduced.

Final Steps!

1. Lay out lettuce wraps, pickled vegetables, lime and herbs on a plate

2. Lay out shrimp and pork in 2 separate bowls

3. Assemble, drizzle the lime, mix and match and enjoy!