Chicken Meatballs in Red Coconut Broth

Since being diagnosed with PTSD I have refined dishes that are full of ingredients that improve or support my mental health. This dish is jam-packed with proteins, iron, vitamins and minerals that can give me a boost on tough days and it’s also delicious. Your body can benefit from the nutrition in liquid faster than in solids so this spicy broth gets to work straight away. You can switch up the veggies but try to include something dark green because that will give you the iron. The meatballs are made with brown rice rather than breadcrumbs so it’s gluten free and dairy free. I tend to make this dish at the weekends and make a double batch so that I can freeze the uncooked meatballs and half the broth ready to enjoy another day. Batch cooking for the win.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 Adults and 2 Children
for the meatballs
400g minced chicken
250g cooked brown rice
2 spring onions
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 lime, juiced

for the broth
2 tbsp red curry paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tin of coconut milk
1/2 red pepper
2 pak choi
6-8 baby corn
thai basil
1/2 lime, juiced
coriander
3-4 bundles of egg noodles

• Put the chicken into a mixing bowl and add the chopped spring onion. salt, pepper, ground ginger, baking soda and squeeze over the lime juice. The baking soda will fizz as you add the lime juice. Give everything a stir then add the cooked rice and stir again then form the mixture into meatballs and set aside.
• Put the curry paste, tomato puree, sugar and soy sauce into a wok or large skillet and cook over a medium high heat for a minute then pour in the coconut milk and stir to combine.
• Chop the red pepper and add to the pan along with the baby corn. Cut the leaves off the pak choi and chop the bulb into segments then add to the pan. **If you want to keep the pak choi whole then place the bulbs into a jug of boiling water (not immersing the leaves) then leave for 5 minutes before lifting out and adding to the sauce.
• Add the meatballs to the pan then place a lid on and cook for 7 minutes then remove the lid and add the pak choi leaves and cooked egg noodles (cook in a separate pan in salted boiling water) then cook for another minute before serving with the Thai basil, chopped coriander and a squeeze of lime.