Thai pork meatballs

Here's a little treat I served up recently to some lovely guests who recently joined us for dinner. They are a tasty appetizer which fitted in with the Thai themed feast.

To make about 30 small meatballs, you need:

500g pork mince
2 spring onions, sliced thinly
2 T fresh corriander, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 T oyster sauce
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp brown sugar
a good spash of tobasco sauce
1 egg
about half a cup of breadcrumbs
a little flour

Just mix everything together, except for the flour. Add enough breadcrums so that the meat takes on a firm texture. You don't want it to be sloppy, but it has to be able to hold together.

Then, just roll into little balls, about 1 inch in diameter. Put them into the fridge to firm up for about half an hour before dusting them with flour and frying in a little vegetable oil until golden and cooked.

Drain on paper towels and serve them on a bed of lettuce with Thai sweet chilli sauce for dipping.

Alternatively, you could form them into rissoles, which would be lovely on a burger, in a wrap, or with thai rice. They are also great the next day, cold from the fridge, thrown on a salad or popped into a hungry mouth!

Quick, budget AND low-fat. Who could want more?

This is not even a recipe; it's too simple to call it that. It's just an idea to get some cheap food onto a plate then into a hungry mouth.

One large chicken breast feeds two people. Add some salad and a few basic pantry items, and you've got yourself a cheap, low-fat meal, baby!

I take a chicken breast and slice it in half lengthways, so that I end up with what looks like two thin chicken breasts.

I fry these in a teensy bit of olive oil until golden and cooked through, then transfer to an oven tray. I top the chicken with some bottled tomato pasta sauce and a little cheese. Sometimes I add a little chopped ham, too. Then, I simply pop it in the toaster oven (or a normal grill or oven could be used) until the cheese is melted and golden.

I serve this on pasta with salad. When I'm really being cruel to myself, I cut out the pasta. This dinner seriously takes less than 15 minutes! Hooray!