{"id":4934,"date":"2012-06-18T08:41:55","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T14:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hottie-biscotti.com\/blog\/?p=4934"},"modified":"2012-06-18T08:41:55","modified_gmt":"2012-06-18T14:41:55","slug":"vietnamese-turkey-meatball-bun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hottie-biscotti.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/18\/vietnamese-turkey-meatball-bun\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnamese Turkey Meatball B\u00fan"},"content":{"rendered":"

While in Austin a few weeks ago my sister took me to Elizabeth Street Cafe<\/a>. \u00a0Eat here if you ever get the chance. \u00a0It’s a French-Vietnamese cafe, which may sound strange to you (it has to a couple people I’ve told about my meal) but the marriage translates into delicious b\u00e1nh m\u00ec, b\u00fan and pho as well as sweet eclairs and delicate macarons. \u00a0We didn’t actually have dessert here since we’d already made plans to have ice cream at Lick<\/a>. \u00a0Go there too.<\/p>\n

This was one of the yummiest meals I’ve had in a while. \u00a0Vietnamese cuisine has a way of leaving you totally satisfied but not stuffed. \u00a0I think it’s the abundance of fresh veggies and herbs, differences in textures and the heat and intense flavor of the sauces. \u00a0We shared the pork belly steamed buns, pork \u00a0b\u00e1nh m\u00ec\u00a0on house-made baguette, and the keffir lime fried chicken\u00a0b\u00fan. \u00a0All delicious.<\/p>\n

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This meal inspired me to make my own Vietnamese noodle bowl at home. \u00a0I decided on a Vietnamese turkey meatball instead of fried chicken. \u00a0Thanks to my Farmhouse delivery<\/a> last weekend I had fresh carrots and cucumbers to use in the bowl. \u00a0I made the dressing for the b\u00fan, nuoc cham. \u00a0It’s a basic Vietnamese dipping sauce of lime juice, fish sauce, peppers, garlic, a touch of sugar and water. \u00a0I think this a really great summer dinner. \u00a0Fresh crisp veggies and herbs with warm meatballs and a spicy cool heat from the sauce.<\/p>\n

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I baked the meatballs instead of pan frying. \u00a0I think there was too much liquid in the meat mixture because the baked meatballs were sitting in a pool of meatball juice (you know what I’m talking about, and it ain’t pretty) so I had to drain them. \u00a0They tasted delicious and with some tweaking they could definitely be something I’d make again. \u00a0Although, these meatballs<\/a> I know are good and could easily be used here. \u00a0The recipe below makes about 35 meatballs. \u00a0I wanted to have enough to make b\u00e1nh m\u00ec\u00a0later in the week, which we did (2 nights in a row, in fact). \u00a0Cut the meatball recipe in half if you’re only planning to use the meatballs for one meal with some leftover.<\/p>\n

The meatballs do take some time to prep with all the chopping you have to do, and the chopping and slicing doesn’t end there. \u00a0The b\u00fan is full of shredded lettuce (I used iceberg but you could use romaine) julienned carrots, cucumber slices, chopped cilantro and mint. \u00a0So get your best knife and cutting board ready! \u00a0I made the meatball mixture, dressing and chopped everything during nap time. \u00a0This made dinner time pretty easy. \u00a0All I had to do was scoop and bake the meatballs, and cook the rice noodles.<\/p>\n

In looking at different recipe for b\u00fan I saw other vegetables used like bean sprouts, daikon and red radish. \u00a0Traditionally beef is used as the protein as in\u00a0this recipe<\/a> from Leite’s Culinaria that looks dleicious. \u00a0But pork can also be used, like in\u00a0this recipe<\/a> from Fine Cooking which is making me crave grilled pork at 9 in the morning.<\/p>\n

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Vietnamese Turkey Meatball B\u00fan<\/h3>\n

Ingredients<\/em><\/p>\n

Meatballs<\/p>\n

(Makes about 35, you may want to cut this recipe in half)<\/p>\n