Vietnamese Chicken Meatball Rice Bowls

I like to mix things up a bit when I am packing lunches.  Sandwiches can be so boring day after day.  This is a tasty healthy lunch to pack as an alternative. 

MEATBALLS
  • 2 lb. ground chicken
  • 1 large egg 
  • 4 tsp. fish sauce
  • 1 tsp. lemongrass
  • 3/4 cup bread crumbs
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 2 inches fresh ginger, grated
  • ½ tsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 red onion diced
  • 1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper 
  • 1/4 cup diced fresh cilantro
  • 3 tsp. corn starch
 Place 2 pounds of ground chicken in a bowl.  Add the 4 tsp. of fish sauce.

 Add the diced onion.

 Add the garlic.


 Add the remaining ingredients.

 Mix thoroughly but do not over mix or the meatballs will be tough.  I use a large fork to toss it all together.

 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Using a small ice cream scoop, form the meat into balls and place them on a foil covered baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. 
  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 inches fresh ginger
  • 2 Tbsp corn starch
  • 1 Tbsp sesame seeds 
  • Put the first 6 ingredients into a heavy pot and simmer until the sugar dissolves.
Mix the cornstarch with some water to make a thin paste and stir it in.

Cook a minute or two until it thickens.

Here are the meatballs right out of the oven.

Toss them in the sauce.


I packed them with cilantro rice and Vietnamese pickled vegetables.  And always a couple wedges of lime.

Comments

I'll think of this today at lunch while I'm eating my sandwich *sob*
Anonymous said…
yes mam' you bring packed lunch to a whole new level you do,,,,
TARYTERRE said…
OMG that looks good. The presentation is lovely too. LOVE the name of the fish sauce company.
Kay said…
This looks absolutely fabulous! Yummmm.... Peanut butter sandwiches now sound pretty bad. Sigh...
Anonymous said…
I've never made or even eaten Vietnamese food, well they say thatb the food we have in our Chinese restaurants are more or less north vietnamese since most of those restaurant owners were chinese living in nort vietnam. But we call it chinese food :-)

This look just as somnething I would love to eat :-)

have a great day!
Christer.
Guillaume said…
I'd love to try that. We had meatballs on Monday, but they were of the veggie kind.
Jim said…
Will you be my Mommy, PLEASE! lol
This looks delicious and I think doable as I like chicken better than beef.
Nellie said…
Wow! Who wouldn't love you to pack their lunch?!?
prairie said…
Love your recipes. I'm going to try this one for our "Quilt Til You Wilt" potluck lunch. Thought I'd put meatballs in one crockpot and Rice in another. Yum. Can hardly wait!
chickpea678 said…
Bet my kids would never accept a sandwich again if I packed this for them once.
Joy said…
Sounds delicious! Especially if I substitute some GF bread for the breadcrumbs so I can enjoy. :-)