Thai Red Curry Soup with Sesame Turkey Meatballs

I fell in love with Thai food from a tiny restaurant named Sadudee in Watervliet, NY.  Ever since then, I have experimented with making Thai food at home.  As with much of cooking, being willing to leave your comfort zone is the first step to learning to make truly great food.  This recipe was inspired by a recipe found in Dr Mark Hyman's newest book, The Pegan Diet, Thai-Inspired Coconut Turkey Soup.  My version has a lot of added vegetables, spices, and of course EVOO.  I highly recommend trying them both!  My family loved the meatballs so much I plan to make them on their own.  We also served the soup over rice noodles making it a wonderfully filling meal.  Give yourself some time to make this recipe, but don't despair,  the end result is delicious and all of the steps are easy. Final note:  if you can't find fresh lemongrass or ginger, Gourmet Garden sells prepared paste that can be easily substituted.  I keep it stocked in my frig! Last Tip: keep the veggies separate from the soup until the very last minute.  This will keep them from overcooking!

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• 1lb ground turkey 
• 1 large zucchini, grated and liquid squeezed out
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 scallions, chopped (reserve greens for garnish)
• 1T fresh or frozen ginger
• 2T cilantro, chopped
• 2T toasted black sesame seeds (regular sesame seeds can be substituted)
• 1 egg
• 1t sesame oil
• 1t EVOO
• salt and pepper

Soup Stock:

• 1T EVOO
• 1t grated lemongrass or lemongrass paste
• 2t grated fresh ginger or ginger paste
• 2 shallots, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2-3t Thai Kitchen red curry paste
• 1t Thai Kitchen roasted red chili paste
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 can unsweetened full fat coconut milk
• 1t lime juice & 1/4t lime zest
• 1t fish sauce

Last minute veggies and touches:

• Baby bok choy
• Baby kale, chopped
• Red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• White button mushrooms, thinly sliced
• Fresh cilantro
• rice noodles, prepared according to directions and flash cooled to prevent sticking

Instructions

Meatballs:

• Preheat oven to 400'
• In a large mixing bowl, stir together all ingredients. 
• Chill in refrigerator for 10 minutes. 
• Form into 2 inch balls. 
• Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes when juices run clear.

Soup Stock:

• While the meatballs are baking, make the soup stock.
• In a large pot, heat EVOO over medium heat.  Saute shallots, garlic, lemon grass and ginger until lightly browned, about 1-2 minutes. 
• Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Turn heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
• Stir in coconut milk and bring to temperature.  When hot, add curry paste, chili paste, lime juice and zest, and fish sauce.  Cook 10 minutes to incorporate flavors.  Feel free to add more curry paste and chili paste to taste.
• Add meatballs and keep on simmer while you prepare veggies

Veggies and Rice noodles:

• Prepare the rice noodles and set aside
• Heat 1t of either sesame or EVOO in a saute pan.  Add kale and saute for 1 min.  Add bok choy, red peppers, and mushrooms and saute for an additional minute just until hot and slightly wilted.  Do not overcook.

To assemble:

• Place desired amount of rice noodles in soup bowl. 
• Ladle soup and meatballs on top
• Add veggies and ladle another spoonful of broth on top
• Garnish with cilantro and lime wedge