Thai Beef Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Saturday nights are often game night in this house. We put the kids to bed and our friends come over to play cards, board games, or Wii games. Last week we played my favorite card game, Euchre. My fellow Euchre enthusiasts may want to click the link for a little history lesson. Did you know that Euchre was once considered the national card game? Check it out! These days, I think Euchre is mostly played in the Midwest. I grew up playing this game at family dinners, the county fair, youth trips...just about anywhere! I'm curious, how many of you play Euchre?

I'm always on the look out for new recipes to try out on our friends for these game nights. In the past year, game night has brought us favorites such as Spicy Cheeseburger Dip, Cajun Seafood Bread, and Sesame, Asparagus and Caramelized Onion Bruschetta. Tonight's featured game night recipe brings us Thai Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce. When I came across this recipe in The Mixer Bible: Over 300 Recipes for Your Stand Mixer, I knew that I wanted to give it a try. One, because it utilized my new mixer attachments and I hadn't yet tried out the meat grinder. Two, because I love the flavors in Thai food. And three, because in the past year, I've become a meatball-making pro and I wanted to add another recipe to my "balls of meat" repertoire. Meatball recipes consistently make more than we can eat in one meal and they freeze well. This recipe was perfect for me! And it was good too, especially with the peanut-coconut milk-red curry dipping sauce. Mmmm.

Meatball ingredients: 1 lb. ground beef, garlic, fresh mint, fresh cilantro, fish sauce, Thai red curry paste, 1 egg, and bread crumbs.



Mix the ingredients together.



Run it through the grinder. Honestly, I probably didn't need to run this through the grinder. I could have just stirred it all together. I began with beef that was already ground. The recipe called for boneless chuck or cross rib. I was supposed to run cut up meat through the grinder, then mix with the other ingredients and grind again. All of this was un-necessary for me, but I wanted to see my new meat grinder in action, so I ran it through just once. As I watched the meat squeeze through the grinder openings, I was thinking how "cool" it is that I have the capability to grind up big cuts of meat into hamburger or turkey burgers or sausage. Oooh...sausage. Look for that one of these days. I've gotta try to make my own sausage. Here's my grinder in action. Probably not the most appetizing shot in this series...



Mix in the egg and bread crumbs. The recipe called for fresh bread crumbs, but to make this a little quicker, I didn't take time to make bread crumbs. I used the pre-packaged crumbs from my pantry and cut back the amount by 1/4 cup, since they are drier and I didn't want the meatballs to end up dry and crumbly.



Form into 1-1/4" meatballs. I didn't measure mine. If you use a tablespoon to scoop up the meat it makes an average-sized meatball. Place the meatballs on a baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes until the meatballs are no longer pink inside. I mixed up the dipping sauce while these were baking. It's only 5 ingredients, no chopping...just dump, cook, and stir.



And that's it. So easy. So good. So perfect for game night.



Here's the recipe:

Thai Beef Meatballs with Peanut Dipping Sauce from The Mixer Bible: Over 300 Recipes for Your Stand Mixer revised by me

Meatballs:

1 lb. lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
1/4 fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup bread crumbs

Peanut Dipping Sauce:

1 cup coconut milk (I used light)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used creamy, it's what I had in my pantry)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine meatball ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Run through the meat grinder (if you don't have a grinder, just mix it up really well). Mix in egg and bread crumbs until well combined. Form mixture into meatballs and place on a baking sheet, 1/2 in. apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden and no longer pink inside.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: In a small saucepan, combine coconut milk, sugar, curry paste, and fish sauce. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add peanut butter and cook, stirring, until peanut butter is well blended.

Place meatballs on a serving platter and serve warm with dipping sauce.


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

To print this recipe just click here!