Ginger chicken balls

I always feel like meatballs - of whatever flavour. These ones combine some of my favourite flavours: ginger, garlic, Thai basil, chicken, and spring onion and are simmered in tomato sauce and served on a bed of basmati rice. I used a Dolmio spicy pepper sauce which went well with the other flavours, but you could make your own or use a different sort of ready made sauce. However, the meatballs could also be cooked and eaten without sauce, or with sauce served with noodles or pasta. Meatballs are very flexible! I cooked these on the top of the stove but they can be baked in the oven at 160c for 45 minutes.

Ingredients
600 gr minced chicken
2 spring onions
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
8 gr Thai basil
Dry fine bread crumbs
Olive oil
250 gr ready made tomato sauce
Water
Steamed rice or noodles
Shaved Parmesan

Mode
Slice spring onions finely
Crush garlic and ginger
Chop Thai basil fairly finely
Add chicken, spring onions, garlic, ginger and Thai basil to a bowl
Combine ingredients thoroughly with hands
Using a heaped soup spoon of mixture form meatballs
Coat lightly in bread crumbs
Place tomato sauce in large pan to heat 
Heat olive oil in pan on stove top
Add the meatballs in batches and quickly seal on both sides
Add sealed meatballs to the tomato sauce
Simmer on the top of the stove for 20-30 minutes
Serve on a bed of rice or rice noodles
Top with shaved Parmesan

Pomegranate and citrus chicken

 

A couple of weekends ago, in between viewing the Gertrude Street Projections with my friend Karen, we ate at a yummy Spanish restaurant in Gertrude Street. To hit our thirst initially we had a refreshing drink which included lemon, lime and pomegranate.  Well, I pondered on the walk home, those flavours would be a nice combination with chicken.And they certainly are!

This recipe is a variant on Abla's Chicken Wings in Garlic. I used chicken drumettes instead of wings, and citron salt (thanks for the present, Bast!), and where she uses lemon juice, I used lemon juice, lime juice, and pomegranate molasses.  However, the cooking method is the tried and true Abla one.

 

Ingredients

730 gr chicken drumettes
1 dessertspoon citron salt
A total of 200 ml made up from:
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 2 limes
Pomegranate molasses
1.5 tbs of minced garlic

Mode

Preheat oven to 210c.
Arrange the chicken drumettes in a baking dish
Sprinkle with citron salt
Roast for 30 minutes
Meanwhile squeeze the lime and lemons
Add pomegranate molasses to citrus juice
Add minced garlic to the citrus and pomegranate and stir thoroughly
Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the garlic, citrus and pomegranate mixture over
Return to oven and roast for another 20 minutes.