Hawaiian Meatballs

I just call these Hawaiian meatballs because it's catchy.  I suppose the only thing that makes 'em remotely Hawaiian is the addition of pineapple in the sauce.  But one thing about it, they're pretty tasty.  Slightly sweet from the pineapple with a little kick on your taste buds from the red pepper flakes, plus a little savory or perhaps "umami" from the fish sauce. 

I had two recipes that I didn't quite have the ingredients for and as I was looking at them trying to decide which on to make I thought I would pull a little bit from each.  I'm trying these with ground pork the next time but I had to use chicken and turkey since it's what I had on hand.  One thing I wish I had was a little arrowroot to thicken the sauce some but really it's quite fine without it.  A thicker sauce is simply more visually appealing.

This recipe just sort of came together over the stove so I might tweak it a little the next time.  Perhaps bump up the heat a little or add some more pineapple.  But at any rate this gives you a good jumping off point.

Hawaiian Meatballs

For the meatballs:

2 lbs of ground meat (pork, chicken, turkey, etc)

2T Red Boat fish sauce

2T Coconut Aminos

2t. curry powder

2 green onions, diced

1t. ginger, minced

1t. cilantro, chopped

salt & pepper to taste

For the sauce:

1 can coconut milk

1C chicken broth

1 t. Red Boat fish sauce

1t. Coconut Aminos

1/2 t. curry powder

1 green onion, diced

1/2 T. red pepper flakes (more if you like it hot)

juice from 1/2 lime

juice from 1/2 lemon

2T. crushed pineapple

3T pineapple juice

2t. basil, chopped

1.  Mix all the ingredient for the meatballs in a bowl and then form into meatballs.  Make them whatever size you like.

2.  Put a little fat of your choice in a large skillet and fry up the meatballs.  I like them to be a little crispy on the outside.

3.  Remove from skillet.  Then add the ingredients for the sauce to the skillet. 

4.  Stir and bring to a simmer.  Add the meatballs and simmer in the sauce for 10 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.