Thai Style Risotto Ball

It's been a great weekend for me. A fun-filled weekend with great company and lots of cooking, just the way I like it. I really enjoy having friends over for dinner actually. We had dinner party at home on Saturday with some of my husband's uni friends and my friends as well. We had such a great time. Was really good to meet up with all of my husband's friends. Such a lovely and friendly group. Also got to meet up with some of my friends which we have not had a chance to meet up for a while. Really nice to catch up with all of you. And on Sunday I invited another group of friends over for dinner. A smaller group this time and I made these risotto balls to serve as started. I was inspired to make this after having dinner at one of the restaurants at Ballarat with my collegues last Tuesday. I loved it so much I had to make this for my friends too. So I made my own variation of it. It tasted wonderful, all of them loved it.

It's basically making risotto and rolling them into balls and covered in panko breadcrumbs. See, I love my panko breadcrumbs, it has never failed me yet. For those authentic Italian food lovers please forgive me for making a twisted version of risotto. =)...it still tastes nice though. A bit of fusion Thai-Western food.

Great as starters or finger food in your party next time round.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Thai Style Risotto Balls

Makes around 18-20 medium-sized risotto balls

Ingredients:

• 2 cups uncooked arborio rice
  
• 4-5 cups beef or chicken stock


• 1/2 chopped brown onion
  
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped


• 2 tablespoons tomyam paste


• 150 grams mince pork


• 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables


• 1/4 cup canned tomato


• 1 egg
  

Seasonings:

• 1.5 tablespoons sugar ( you can use shaved palm sugar if you want)


• 1 tablespoon salt
  

Coating:

• 1-2 eggs, beaten


• Plain flour


• Panko breadcrumbs
  

Methods:
To make the risotto

1. Heat up oil in frying pan. At the same time warm up the stock in another saucepan, keep warm on low fire.
   
2. Once the frying pan is hot enough, add in onion and garlic.
   
3. Fry for a few minutes until soft. Then add in tomyam paste.


4. Stir for 10-20 seconds, then add in minced pork


5. Once the pork is cooked through, add in arborio rice and mix well

6. Next step requires a bit of patience. Add in stock to the rice one ladle at a time, wait until the stock is absorbed before adding in the next ladle. Stir well after each addition and make sure you check the bottom of the pan so that the rice is not burnt. Make sure you keep the stock warm in the saucepan over low fire as well. Cook until the rice is al dente.

7. When the rice is almost cooked to al dente, add in the canned tomato, all the seasoning and mixed vegetable. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Set aside and let cool. It should be a little bit sticky at this stage.

8. Once the rice is cooled, mix in 1 egg and stir thoroughly. This is to bind the mixture together so it's easier to form.

9. Form the rice into 18-20 pieces of 4-5cm diameter risotto balls.

10. First coat the rice balls in flour, then dip them into beaten egg and then the breadcrumbs. Line them on baking tray and spray with a little bit of olive oil.

Risotto balls ready to go into oven

11. Bake in preheated 200 degrees celcius oven for around 20-25 minutes until the breadcrumbs become crunchy and golden.

12. Serve with Thai sweet chilli sauce.

Thai Basil Mince Beef

I am actually a big fan of Thai food. Thai food has very complex flavour that somehow works so well together. The combination of palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind and various herbs just makes such perfect combination that the moment you have a bite of your favourite Thai dish you just get immediate satisfaction out of it. Regardless of what dish it is, whether it's green to red curry, tomyam, Thai food is definitely one of my favourite cuisine of all time. I am yet to find a dish I don't like.

This dish is one of my favourite. I remember first having it at one of the most popular Thai restaurant here in Melbourne, Ying Thai. The moment I had my first bite I immediately fell in love with this dish and wanted to recreate it at home.

Hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do. You can put some chopped red chillies in this dish if you like hot food.

And oh ya, I saw some leaves coming out of my herb garden. So exciting. Hopefully it will start to sprout soon. I planted some sweet basil too. Hopefully it will grow well and I can just take some basil from my herb garden and use them in my cooking anytime I want. =)
Thai Basil Mince Beef

Ingredients:

• 400grams minced beef ( again, if you don't like or eat beef, substitute with any kinds of mince meat)
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 red capsicum, sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 birds' eye chillies, finely chopped ( optional)
• 1/4 cup chopped spring onions
  

Seasoning:

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons ABC kecap manis ( thick soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar ( you can use regular sugar as well)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Methods:

1. Heat up oil in your wok.
2. Once the oil is hot enough, add in the shallots, garlic and chillies (if you are adding them)
   
3. Stir fry until fragrant
4. Add in minced beef
5. Stir fry until the beef is cooked. Then add in water, capsicum and all the seasonings
6. When the capsicum is cooked, add in the basil leaves and chopped spring onions, and stir fry for another 1-2 mins until the leaves have all wilted
7. Adjust seasoning.
8. Serve with warm rice.
   

Thai Style Beef Patty

I was in the mood for Thai food yesterday. Just got back to Melbourne from Ballarat and was thinking of what to cook for dinner. Kinda miss having Thai food, haven't had it for a while so I decided to cook Thai basil mince beef and this beef patty. Will post the recipe for basil mince beef tomorrow.

Just for your information, I have just started my herb garden. I actually grow them in pots. Really looking forward for it to grow. Will keep you posted on the progress. Nothing seen yet so far as I just sow the seeds last week. Hopefully will start to see something in the next few weeks.



Thai Style Beef Patty

Ingredients:

• 400 grams mince beef ( you can use mince pork or chicken as well, even fish paste will be nice)
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped and stir fried till soft and fragrant. I always stir fry my garlic to cook it a little bit before mixing them into patties / meat balls mixture because I don't like the raw taste of garlic. So by doing this you will avoid the raw taste from garlic when you cook the patties.
  
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped spring onion
• 10 green beans, cut to 3-4mm pieces
• 1 stalk lemongrass, white bottom part only - finely chopped
• 3 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon tapioca starch
  

Seasoning:

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons ABC kecap manis / thick soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon salt

Methods:

1. Mix all the ingredients for patty together with seasoning. You can add a bit more tapioca starch if the mixture is too watery.
2. Form mince beef mixture into small patties of 10-12 cm diameter. You should be able to make around 10-12 patties


3. Pan fry on frying pan until cooked through or you can also use your grill pan if you want.

I made a side dipping sauce for this, but you can omit this. It's actually really nice with thai chilli sauce.

Dipping sauce:

• 1/4 cup ground peanut
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1.5 tablespoons lemon/lime juice

Mix all the ingredients together and serve with beef patties.

Hope you enjoy it. Bon Appetite. Basil mince beef recipe coming tomorrow.