Chicken Meatball Stir Fry with Vermicelli Rice Noodles

I was given a copy of the Super Food Ideas magazine by my sister today and I saw a chicken meatball stirfry recipe which looked and sounded yummy.  BUT, I needed it to be wheat-free, I didn't have any snow peas, I didn't have any Chinese Red Wine and I didn't have any chicken mince, so I had to tweak it to suit me.

The chicken meatballs contain very similar ingredients to San Choy Bow except it uses chicken mince instead of pork.  They were super tasty.

Here goes:

Meatballs

500g chicken mince / 500g boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 garlic clove, minced

1.5cm piece of fresh ginger, finely grated

1 can of water chestnuts, finely diced

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce

2 tablespoons gluten free oyster sauce

1/4 cup gluten free breadcrumbs

Rice bran oil for shallow frying

Stir Fry - see notes below

4 mushrooms - cut into quarters

1 large pak choy - cut into bite size chunks

1 can of baby corn spears (or a decent handful of fresh baby corn) - cut into bite size chunks

1 red capsicum - diced

1 clove of garlic - finely diced

1/3 cup of Chinese Rice Wine or Sherry

2 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce

200g rice vermicelli noodles

Method

Combine all the meatball ingredients, mix well and roll into small balls.  Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour, preferably one hour.

Thermomix method: Place garlic, spring onions, ginger, water chestnuts and chicken thighs and pulse on turbo 5 or 6 times until a mince-like consistency is achieved.  Add breadcrumbs, sesame oil, soy sauce and oyster sauce and mix well - 20 seconds, speed 1.

Heat the rice bran oil and fry each meatball for approx 7-8 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Set aside.

While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the vegetables for the stir fry.  Soak the vermicelli noodles in a bowl of warm water for 2-5 minutes, until softened.  Drain.  Using kitchen scissors, cut the noodles in halves or quarters (makes them easier to fry and to eat).

Once you have removed the meatballs from the fry pan, toss the stir fry vegetables in the pan and keep them moving.  Cook for approximately 3-5 minutes - until your preferred texture is achieved.  I like mine still a little crunchy and very colourful. Add the vermicelli noodles and the wet ingredients and toss.  

Serve the noodles and veg mixture into bowls and top with the meatballs.  Divine.

The meatballs were super tasty and the whole thing just worked.  I loved it.  

Note on Vegetables:

For extra vegetables or to make do with what you have in the fridge, you could use - the only limit is your imagination.

• broccoli or broccolini
• cauliflower
• asparagus
• zucchini
• yellow button squash
• snow peas
• any asian greens
• chilli - I think this recipe could really benefit from a sliced medium heat chilli thrown through

Cheers to Super Food Ideas (and my sister for giving me the magazine).  This is definitely something I will cook again!