This dish honestly is one of my favourite things I have ever made. It is just so good. And so family friendly. The combination of a creamy slightly spicy and refreshing soup with fresh vegetables, dense meatballs and soft noodles. It just is so good. Unbelievable good.
It is something the entire family will love. Meatballs are always a family staple in my opinion and noodles are too. If there are family members who don’t eat meat, they only do veggies and noodles, if there are some who are not the biggest fan of vegetables they can leave them out. It is really versatile and really good.
I do not know how I came up with that Idea but I think I somehow wanted a curry and a noodle soup at the same time so I combined it. And I knew I couldn’t go without some meat for my brother and my dad so I decided to try out something different, something that could easily be eaten in a sop and decided to go for meatballs.
Ground chicken or veal work best for the meatballs but pork or beef works fine too. I have to say though, that I have never tried it out with vegetable mince, because I am worried that this will probably fall apart. Other than the meat in the balls go some lemongrass, fresh is best but dried (in powder) works alright too, some ginger, garlic, soy sauce and cornstarch to hold everything together. It all is diced up finely and then mixed together before being formed into meatballs.
As the base of the soup we use chicken broth because it has most flavour and add in ginger, lemongrass and spring onions to add some asian flavours to the broth. This is all being poured over some curry paste and after simmering for a little while also some canned coconut milk goes into the pot. Coconut milk is such a great addition into soups because it makes everything so much creamier and richer plus it adds a ton of flavour. It really is a healthy go-to for soups!
To finish the meal of we add some pasta to the soup for some carbs and texture. Here I recommend using soba ur glass noodles. Soba noodles are my preferred choice. They originally come from Japan and are made from buckwheat flour. They taste super delicious and have more fibre and protein than regular pasta. If you do not find them near you, you can also substitute them for glass noodles.
And of course, we need some vitamins too, so we are adding some vegetables! Here you can use whatever is in your fridge! Personally, I would recommend using mushrooms, carrots, pak choy, cauliflower, asparagus an broccoli. but if you have any other favourites you are free to add them!
Preparing it all takes a little time because everything needs to be chopped but it is a fun thing to do. Especially forming the meatballs is something kids will love.
I love making this dish as a lunch or a delicious dinner because it is packed with flavour, and nutrients. The entire family loves it and you can still enjoy it the next day if there is something left over (although there probably will be none)!
I hope that this gives you some inspiration to cook good and healthy food for your entire family or just for yourself.
Happy cooking,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière
Curry Noodle Soup with Lemongrass Meatballs
Best soup you will ever make. Spicy and creamy base with dense deliciously fresh meatballs, soft vegetables and dedicant noodles. The best thing ever.
What you will need
For the Meatballs:
- 400 g ground chicken
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 4 cm ginger
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 spring onion
- 1 tbso soy sauce
- 3 tbsp cornstarch maybe a bit more
- 1 tbsp oil
For the soup:
- 25 g curry paste
- 1,5 l chicken broth
- 2 stalks lemongrass
- 6 cm ginger
- 2 spring onions
- 400 ml coconut milk (1 can)
- 100 g mushrooms *
- 100 g broccoli *
- 100 g carrots *
- 100 g cauliflower *
- 1 pak choy
- 150 g soba noodles
- some fresh spring onions
How to
That is how it works:
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For the meatballs peel and mince the lemongrass, ginger and spring onions finely. Combine them in a bowl with the ground meat, soy sauce and the cornstarch. Mix everything well. It shoudl form a sticky consistency so you can form meatballs. It it is not sticky enough, add more cornstarch.
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Take one heaped tablespoon at a time from the meat mixture and form it into balls. Heat up the oil in a large pot and fry the meatballs in it for about 10 minutes. Take them out and set them aside.
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In the meantime cut up the ginger, lemongras, and spring onions into larger chunks. Combine the curry past with about 3 tablespoons of the coconut milk.
In the hot pot quickly fry the ginger, lemongras, and spring onions for about 2-3 minutes. Take them out and place them in a tea bag or sieve so they can cook with the broth later. Add the curry paste mixture into the pot any fry this for about one minute before you add the broth and the tea bag. Bring everything to a boil.
In the meantime chop all of the vegetbales you are using into bite-sized pices. Add in harder veegtables that need longer to cook, like carrot and cauliflower now and boil them for about 5 minutes.
In the meantime prepare the pasta according to package intructions.
After the 5 minutes, add in the other vegetables and coconut milk and take out the tea bag. Let everything simmer for another 3-4 minutes.
When the noodles are done cooking strain them and set aside.
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To serve add some meatballs and pasta into a soup bowl. Next, pour the soup and vegetables over and garnish with some spring onions and fresh cilantro. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- you can use any vegetables you have in your fridge, they do not need to be those exact ones,