Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs

Versions of these meatballs appear all over Vietnam and Thailand, where they are usually skewered and grilled over an open flame. Delicious though they are, our pan-fried version removes the need for either skewers or an open flame. It also allows us to wrap them in lettuce cups and eat them with our hands, which we love. These are lovely as a group snack, with everyone making up their own wraps; they also work with blanched rice vermicelli noodles, tossed with the salad, herbs and dipping sauce.

Prep 15 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 4

For the meatballs
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped (50g)
30g coriander, leaves picked and stems finely chopped
10g mint leaves, finely chopped, plus a few extra leaves to serve
1½ tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp caster sugar
Salt and ground white pepper
100g leftover cooked rice
500g ground chicken

For the nuoc cham sauce:
2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small red bird’s eye chilli, roughly sliced
1 large mild red chilli, roughly sliced
¼ tsp flaky sea salt
2 tbsp roughly chopped palm sugar, or caster sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

To serve
1.5 heads of romaine lettuce, leaves separated
½ cucumber, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400* F.

Put the first six ingredients for the meatballs in a medium bowl, add a quarter-teaspoon of salt and three-quarters of a teaspoon of ground white pepper, then stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the rice and chicken, mix well, then form into about 24 roughly 1 oz balls. Flatten each ball slightly, then place on a baking tray and put in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the nuoc cham. Put the garlic, chillies and flaky salt in a mortar and pound to a wet paste: the chillies won’t break down completely. Add the remaining dressing ingredients, then transfer to a screw-top jar. Seal, shake vigorously, then put in the fridge until ready to serve. If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, put everything in a food processor and pulse until the chillies and garlic are broken up.

When ready to serve, prepare the salad platter by stacking the lettuce cups on the side and strewing the cucumber and reserved herb leaves around and about. Pour the nuoc cham into small serving bowls, so each person has their own little dipping sauce.