Gingery Pork Meatballs with Noodles

This dish was a big hit at our dinner table! Cooking Light shared the photo I posted on Instagram the day I made it and it got over 800 likes within minutes. Woah!

The meatballs have a lot of flavor, and were super tender. The noodles were fine, but a little dry, so we added some more sesame oil and low sodium soy sauce at the end.

I used a little cookie scoop so I ended up with a lot of meatballs. Since they were smaller, I baked them for a few minutes less than the recipe recommended. It worked out great! They did stick a bit to the foil, so maybe next time I'll spray it with non-stick spray first.

Gingery Pork Meatballs with Noodles
Cooking Light September 2010

Wide rice noodles are available on the ethnic-foods aisle at most major supermarkets and at Asian grocers. If you can't find them, any rice noodle or even spaghetti will work in this dish. You can also use ground sirloin, if you can't find pork.

Meatballs:
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup dry breadcrumbs
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound lean ground pork
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Noodles:
8 ounces uncooked wide rice noodles
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 cup red bell pepper strips
1 cup julienne-cut snow peas
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ cup thinly sliced green onions

1. Place a foil-lined jelly-roll pan in oven. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl; stir gently just until blended. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Divide pork mixture into 20 equal portions; shape each portion into a meatball. Arrange meatballs in a single layer on preheated pan. Bake at 450° for 20 minutes or until done.

3. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. Rinse noodles under cool water; drain. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, peas, salt, and crushed red pepper; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add noodles; toss. Place 1 ¾ cups noodle mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 5 meatballs. Sprinkle each serving with 2 tablespoons green onions.

Amount per serving
Calories: 506
Fat: 15.4g
Saturated fat: 5.1g
Monounsaturated fat: 6.2g
Polyunsaturated fat: 3.3g
Protein: 30.6g
Carbohydrate: 58.8g
Fiber: 3.7g
Cholesterol: 138mg
Iron: 3.4mg
Sodium: 700mg
Calcium: 81mg

Big Flavors Rating: 4 Stars