Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs in Lettuce Wraps

These chicken meatballs from food and wine, were absolutely my favourite out of all the things I made.  I have never made meatballs with chicken thighs before, but they were so moist that I will definitely be making them this way again.

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
3 small shallots, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced

1 stalk of fresh lemongrass, minced

1 tablespoon finely chopped mint, plus leaves for serving

1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 head Boston lettuce, leaves separated

Cucumber slices

1 small red onion, halved and sliced

Asian chili sauce, for serving

 

Preheat the oven to 400

 

In a food processor, pulse the chicken until coarsely ground then transfer to a bowl. Add the fish sauce, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, mint, cornstarch, salt and pepper and mix together.

 

Place the sugar on a plate.  Roll the chicken mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls.  Roll the meatballs in the sugar until they are evenly coated. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, until they are lightly browned.

 

Place the meatballs into the lettuce cups, top with red onion, fresh mint and cucumber slices.  Serve with chili sauce.

As this was the last of the Valentine's appetizer recipes, here's everything all together.  We also has coronation chicken vol au vents, mini beef wellingtons and steak phyllo cups.