Thanks to my sister, I’ve recently become ob-sessed with Smitten Kitchen. Sure, I’ve dabbled in the Smitt here and there over the past couple of years, but nothing like now. The woman has a gift, by golly. I saw a steak with a pepper sauce that made me want to sell my soul to the devil himself.

Tonight I was looking for something moderately healthy (so long, fried chicken), a hint of familiar (hello there, pasta), but not too unfamiliar (yikes, is that tongue?). These scallion turkey meatballs with ginger sauce sounded far too good to pass up. SK recommends them as party balls (ie a dish to serve with toothpicks), but I decided to go with udon noodles and bok choy for a total dinner fiesta.

Scallion Meatballs with Soy Ginger Glaze

from Smitten Kitchen

Sauce:

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c water
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c mirin or sake
2 T peeled & minced ginger root
1 t ground coriander
ground pepper

Meatballs:

1 lb ground turkey
5 shoots green onions, finely sliced
1/4 bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 T toasted sesame oil
2 T soy sauce
1 egg
pepper
vegetable oil for frying

Start with the sauce by putting the sugar and water into a small saucepan and heating on medium high until sugar dissolves. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer, stirring frequently, until thick (about 40 minutes). The meatballs will take about that long to prepare and cook, so it fits together well.

For the balls, place all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a fork until combined (don’t go crazy, you don’t want them to fall apart for being over-worked).

Form 1″ meatballs and place them on a tray as you heat a skillet with the vegetable oil. The mixture is very sticky, so make sure to wet your hands before you work with the meaty goodness.

You just need enough to coat the bottom of the pan with the oil, there’s no deep frying in this chapter (unless that’s your bag, baby).

Fry them until brown on both/all sides (depends on what kind of balls you make; mine flattened out a bit). I had to do two batches, because you definitely don’t want to crown these guys (they like their personal space).

At this point, the sauce should be nice and thick. If it’s too thin it’s not a huge deal, but it will be absorbed more easily into the pasta/balls.

All thrown together, this is fantastic. The noodles absorbed the sauce and the meatballs were very flavorful. I wouldn’t change a thing! I bet the sauce would be great with some grilled chicken and rice (fried egg on top? hmm?) or with a stir fry.

Thuper noms!