Recipe: Thai Bites

Recipe: Thai Bites

Body Content

Perfect for this time of year when a lot of us are trying to balance things out after the excesses of December.

These Thai bites use minced turkey breast and are a light, quick to cook evening meal. They are a really good filling for wraps, maybe with shredded lettuce, grated carrot and sweet chilli sauce, They also make the cutest Thai sliders if you have some tiny burger buns to hand. Or just eat them with a salad, or as a snack or starter.

Ingredients

500g turkey mince (or minced pork)
3 finely chopped spring onions
1 egg
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce (optional)
1-2 teaspoons of Thai green curry paste – to taste
juice of ½ a lime
Small bunch of coriander including the stalks, chopped
½ hot red chilli, sliced
2 large pinches of salt
1 large handful of panko crumbs (or breadcrumbs)

To Cook

1 Tbsp sunflower oil
½ a mug of water
2 Tbsp soy sauce.
2 teaspoons of runny honey

Method

1. Mix well all of the ingredients together in a bowl
2. Sprinkle in the panko/breadcrumbs at the end, adding and stirring until you have a soft, moldable mixture
3. Cover and chill  in the fridge for 30 minutes or more to allow the mix to firm up
4. Roll the mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball
5. Flatten them into little burger shapes. You can refrigerate these until you are ready to eat
6. Heat a lidded frying pan with a tablespoon of sunflower oil over medium heat
7. Fry the patties on one side, pressing down a little with a spatula
8. When they are nicely browned flip and cook for 1 minute more
9. Mix the ½ cup of water with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and pour this into the hot pan
10. Cover with the lid and allow to steam for around 5 minutes
11. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of honey and swirl the liquid and honey around over the heat as it evaporates, flipping the patties to get them coated in the sticky, brown glaze
12. Serve in a wrap, in a bun or with a salad with an extra sprinkle of coriander leaves

Note: You can make these with these with minced pork or chicken. You can also supplement green curry paste for any other curry paste that you have.

Tip: The fresh coriander makes these Thai Bites light and fresh. To perk up store-bought coriander, take it out of the packet, snip the very ends of the stalks off, sit it in a small tumbler of water and put a small plastic bag over the whole thing, sealed with a rubber band at the base. Store it in the fridge like this, in its own little atmosphere, it will freshen up then last for a couple of weeks. Chop the stalks finely, then as you reach the leaves chop more coarsely or just tear off the leaves by hand.