Spiced chicken meatballs with noodles, basil & broth

Spiced chicken meatballs with noodles, basil & broth

This fragrant and filling dish is an excellent dinner party choice

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Freezable

Only the meatballs can be frozen

Method

  1. Whizz the onion, ginger, chillies, garlic, white pepper and half of the coriander stalks, roots (if using) and leaves in a food processor until finely chopped. Mix the milk and breadcrumbs together in a large bowl. Add the onion mix and chicken into the breadcrumbs, then season. Now, really mix - I mean mix - until the whole thing becomes a paste rather than lumpy. If you have a tabletop mixer, then use that instead of your hands. Shape into small balls around the size of a 50p piece. Place a large frying pan or casserole over a medium heat, add a drizzle of oil then fry the balls until well coloured - about 10 mins. You'll need to do this in batches, adding more oil each time. Set aside.
  2. For the broth, put the stock into a large saucepan, bring to the boil, then simmer. Add the sesame oil, fish sauce, ginger, remaining coriander stalks and roots, star anise and peppercorns. Simmer, covered, for 20 mins. Add the spring onions, noodles and chillies, if using. Take 6 large bowls, then divide the noodles between them - tongs are the best tool. Drop in the warm meatballs then ladle in the stock. Scatter with coriander and basil leaves then tuck in.
Try

Chicken mince

Chicken mince can be hard to find. Ask your butcher, or buy boned thighs and chicken breasts, chop them, then whizz in the food processor.

536 kcalories, protein 48g, carbohydrate 54g, fat 16 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 2g, sugar 4g, salt 4.74 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • 18 August 2009

    Louise commented on this recipe

    I couldn't get chicken mince so used pork mince instead, it was wonderful!

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  • 18 August 2009

    Louise rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 19 August 2009

    ~ Sil in Corea commented on this recipe

    If you use well-drained (hung overnight in cheesecloth) tofu instead of breadcrumbs and put them into thin pastry or 'pizza-dough' circles, they are very much like Chinese 'potstickers' or Korean 'mandu,' especially when made with pork!

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  • 24 August 2009

    carenmilloy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this dish last night and it was superb. The flavours were perfect. Used turkey mince and slightly less fish sauce. Definately a hit and one for an evening with friends.

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  • 08 September 2009

    Elizabeth rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this dish tonight. Took a little longer to prepare as I had to make my own chicken mince as couldn't get any from Tesco, but the flavour was great and enjoyed by all the family. I added a few veg (carrot sticks & mini sweetcorn) and found it then easily served about 8. Would make the meatballs smaller next time so that they are only one mouthfull sized.

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  • 16 September 2009

    Julia rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely love this, have been looking for a good (and quick) asian soup base recipe and this is perfect, especially with the toasted sesame oil. I use whatever meat I have to hand, cooked chicken, or even sausage meatballs, and organic noodles which are so much more tasty normal ones. Delicious.

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  • 16 September 2009

    Orlaigh commented on this recipe

    Mad my own chicken mince and it was really easy - love this recipe - so tasy and healthy!

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  • 23 October 2009

    katyrouth rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Really fresh tasting and light but filling dinner. Used turkey thigh mince, which tasted really good.

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  • 09 December 2009

    HappyBunny rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    This didn't really work for us. The flavour was good but the meatballs were far too messy to shape and the soup left a slimy aftertaste due to the sesame oil. I really wanted to love this but most of it was wasted this evening.

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  • 26 January 2010

    chefbigt rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 26 January 2010

    mickhed rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 24 March 2010

    Tara Keown rated this recipe

    1 stars

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  • 28 March 2010

    jemma rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 31 March 2010

    Spela commented on this recipe

    Loved this, used turkey mince though, because couldn't get the chicken. Left out chillies for my 18 month old who loved it as well!

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  • 31 March 2010

    Spela rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Forgot to rate!

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  • 15 April 2010

    Liza rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Used Turkey Mince and didnt have any basil but it was lovely, will be making this a mid week regular..

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  • 10 June 2010

    lemon_farmer rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    This is much more effort and nowhere near as good as some of the other noodle broth dishes on the site and ones we make up ourselves. I was really excited about this dish, but thought it was a cacophony of muddled up tastes and textures. The star anise was overpowering (6?!), less than half that would have done, the chicken meatballs were like mushy sweetbreads ... the basil fought with the coriander on top because it wasn't anywhere else in the dish it felt like an afterthought on top - I wish I'd just used chilli flakes or fresh chilli with the coriander. It also needed a spot of soy. Our toddler enjoyed putting the noodles in his ear, but no one else much liked the dish - I actually woke up excited about making this, love JT, but was thoroughly disappointed with the result :(

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  • 16 August 2011

    Death_Bastard rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Tried with Pork as suggested. Very nice, though toasted sesame oil was maybe a little overpowering.

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  • 23 September 2011

    Helen&Luke rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Made this a few nights ago and it was lovely! Had LOADS of meatballs though, and even though we all ate huge portions there was enough for two more servings! Was also very time-consuming as we minced our own chicken when we couldn't find it in the shop. Very tasty though, so will definitely make it again :)

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  • Binder photo Ski

    02 November 2011

    Ski commented on this recipe

    I grilled chicken breasts instead of using chicken mince (perfect when pressed for time!). I marinated them in a Teriyaki sauce, sliced them and placed on top of the broth and noodles. Absolutely, the broth is the most delicious, fragrant, tasty recipe I have had in a very long time - and so easy to make! I have cooked this nearly 6 times in the last 3 weeks as my husband is ill and loves it.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 40 mins

Freezable

Only the meatballs can be frozen

Ingredients

  • 1 large onion , roughly chopped
  • thumb-size piece fresh root ginger
  • 1-2 long red chillies , finely chopped (seeds in or out, you decide)
  • 1 garlic clove , crushed
  • 6 white peppercorns , crushed
  • 20g pack coriander , stalks, roots if you have them and leaves, chopped and kept separate, plus sprigs to finish
  • 50ml milk
  • 100g fresh white breadcrumbs
  • 1kg quality chicken mince
  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil

FOR THE BROTH

  • 1½l chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • 6 star anise
  • thumb-size piece fresh root ginger , sliced
  • ½ tsp black peppercorns
  • 8 spring onions , thinly sliced
  • 300g egg noodles , cooked
  • sliced chillies to taste (optional)
  • 1 small bunch basil , leaves picked
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536 kcalories, protein 48g, carbohydrate 54g, fat 16 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 2g, sugar 4g, salt 4.74 g

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