Thai Meatballs with Coconut Cream Sauce

When OG was little she had a dairy allergy which meant I couldn’t eat dairy (it crossed over into my milk and made her very sick). When OG grew out of the allergy I starting eating dairy again and found that it caused a lot of inflation (it’s funny how we don’t notice sensitivities until we stop eating something and start again).

Then gluten became a problem for our family so we cut that out too. Being dairy and gluten free is a tough diet to stick to and find recipes that fit in that are also real foods (rather than soy dairy replacement).

This recipe was created based on what we had laying around one day.

It’s sort of an Asian inspired gluten free and dairy free beef stroganoff. It definitely takes care of my craving for cream sauce. So much so that it has  become one of our favorite meals.

Thai meatballs: ingredients

(serves 4)

Meatballs:

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 1 onion finely chopped or minced
• 1 large clove garlic minced
• 1-2 carrots
• 1 small zucchini
• 1/2 c GF breadcrumbs, GF oat flour, or buckwheat flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 T soy or coconut aminos
• a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes (optional)

sauce:

• 1 can coconut milk or 1 1/2 cups coconut yogurt
• 1 T soy or coconut aminos
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 T arrowroot powder (optional)

Olive oil (stick with REAL olive oil like this one)

Cooked rice or rice pasta

Thai meatballs directions

Heat  a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until slightly browned.

Finely chop or shred carrot and zucchini. Place in a strainer or squeeze excess water out.

Add veggies and ground beef to a mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl (adjust breadcrumbs according to the wetness of your meatballs). Form into 1 1/2 in meatballs.

Pan fry method: Using a cast iron fry pan on medium to medium high, add a layer of olive oil to the bottom of the pan. You’re not deep frying but you want to have enough oil so the meatballs stay softish. If you want you can cook them like mini hamburgers with less oil and they would probably be fine too.  Add meatballs to the pan and cook until no longer pink inside.

FYI – I usually squish them down into patties because I’m impatient and care more about getting them done than what they look like.

Oven method: (I haven’t tried them this way yet but this is a pretty standard way to bake meatballs, let me know if you try it!) Place meatballs on a baking sheet. Bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until no longer pink inside.

Coconut cream sauce directions

Pour sauce ingredients into a sauce pan and heat on medium low until heated. Add arrowroot powder if you want a thicker sauce.

Pour sauce over thai meatballs and pasta and enjoy! Don’t forget to cook a veggie! We like broccoli with this dish but mushrooms, sugar snap peas, and carrots would be great too.

Have you ever made thai meatballs? How did it go?