Vietnamese Meatball Soup

A re-worked version of the recipe from this amazing cookbook: Quick and Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes, by Nancy McDermott

It looks like a lot of steps, but the most complicated thing about this recipe is measuring the ingredients. Other than that, it's pretty much just combing things and putting things in broth and then fishing them out. Because all the flavors are so delicate (which makes it a nice soup recipe for spring and summer), getting the proportions just right is more important than in most cooking recipes. The success of this soup seems to hinge mostly on getting the salt (soy sauce and salt) just right. It becomes too salty very fast, but not enough salt and it tastes boring. A little zing of vinegar and/or lime seems to improve things as well if you're not finding enough flavor in your finished product.

Ingredients (amounts following):
- Stock - chicken, turkey, vegetable, or beef (dilute with some water if using beef)
- 1 lb of mild-tasting but not too lean ground meat - lean beef or turkey thigh are good options; bison would probably work fine too; turkey breast will be a bit dry and ground chicken will taste a bit too greasy and odd; lamb will be too...lamb-y.
- soy sauce
- fish sauce - preferred brands (in glass if possible, the lightest amber you can find) of those most widely available here are Tiparos , Three Crabs (there are additives to this I'm not fond of, but it seems to be the overwhelming taste favorite), or Squid.
- oil - peanut or sesame are best, but canola or another neutral oil would be fine
- flour - anything finely ground (e.g. cornstarch is best, but rice, sorghum, normal all-purpose etc. will work too)
- salt
- cayenne pepper or black pepper and/or Sriracha Sauce (I highly recommend buying this sauce if you don't have it and you like spicy things. It lasts a long time and is highly versatile; it's the spice-lover's ketchup)
- vinegar - cider, white wine, or rice
- cilantro (optional but recommended; you may need to add a squeeze of lime and/or some basil if you're omitting this)
- greens (optional, for serving over)
- rice (optional, for serving over)

1. Put 4 cups of stock in a pot and bring it to a boil. I used water and then some concentrated homemade stock cubes (I'll show you how to make stock in another recipe -- it's easy!)



2. While the stock is heating, mix up the meatballs...

1 lb of ground meat

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tbsp oil

1.5-2 tsp flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, Sriracha Sauce, or black pepper (more or less to taste)

dash of vinegar

Put the meat in a bowl and make a well in the middle of it. Put all the other ingredients in the well and mix it all up well.



3. Bring your bowl and a spoon over to your stove and scoop out a heaping spoonful (about 1.5 tbsp), round into a ball and drop it in the broth. Do this to make about 5 meatballs or half your meat mixture.

4. Now, wait about 5-10 minutes while they cook (usually it's a good sign when they start to float and bob at the top of the water). Fish them out with a slotted spoon or regular spoon and fork, set them aside, and do it again with the rest of the meat.
While you're waiting for the meatballs to cook...

a. slice up 4 green onions, or one giant green onion/leek like the one I found here at the Asian grocer, or about 1/4 or a red or yellow onion as thin as you can while you're waiting for the meatballs to cook.

and
b. put the following ingredients in a small bowl
1 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oil
1 tsp of cayenne pepper or a squirt of Sriracha Sauce (more or less depending on your taste for spice)
2 tbsp vinegar or white wine

and (optionally)
c. if you want to serve this with rice, start your rice cooking.

and (optionally)
d. rinse and, if necessary, chop some greens if you want to serve your soup over greens

4. Once the meatballs are all done cooking and set aside,
Add your small bowl from step 3b of ingredients to your broth as well as half your onions. Return to a boil.



5. (optional) Add your greens, if using. Cook greens until well-wilted, about 3 minutes, and then fish them out with a slotted spoon or two forks. I used a vegetable I found in the Asian market and never did identify. It tasted like a cross between broccoli and bok choy. Other possibilities could be bok choy, napa cabbage, chinese broccoli, arugula. You could try spinach as well, but I suspect it would be an unappetizing texture in this venue (you'd be better off just making it into a salad on the side).

6. Add the rest of the onions to the broth.



7. Assemble your soup in bowls as follows:
a. lay down a small bed of rice
b. layer over your greens
c. lay down 3-5 meatballs per bowl on your nest of rice and greens
d. ladle over your broth
e. give it all a nice flourish of Sriracha Sauce
f. sprinkle some fresh cilantro and/or a squeeze of lime

7. Savour