Red Spice Road on 27 McKillop St, Melbourne was one of my recent food adventures with my friends who came over for a short visit.
Being new in town and still feeling our way to learn what’s hot in the Melbourne CBD food scene, we all have turned to our trusty Urbanspoon for guidance. As one of my friends is a vegetarian, having a decent selection of vegetarian dishes was part of the consideration. One thing led to another, Red Spice Road was on our radar and we were convinced that this was the place to be based on the online reviews.
Oohh, don’t you love reading online reviews and sometimes, just for fun?
Thankfully, the rave reviews didn’t disappoint. The decor is trendy; and the ambience is warm and cosy. We were well looked after by the friendly wait staff and the service was excellent! As we were busy chit chatting and drinking away, they were busy filling up our water ha!
We ordered a tofu stir fry, an eggplant curry as well as the special of the day – the lamb meatball curry with okra which this recipe is loosely based of. Going through my blog, I’ve realised that I don’t cook a lot of lamb and okra dishes at home even though they were the two things that I used to be obsessed with as a child. Needless to say, I was so pleased with this unusual combination that I felt almost obligated to re-create this dish at home. 😉
Ingredients
- 500g lamb mince
- 1 slice of bread
- 1 Tbsp Thai red curry paste (I use this brand for this recipe)
- ½ lemon rind, grated
- 1 tsp salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small brown onion, cut into six wedges
- 1 Tbsp red curry paste
- 135ml light coconut milk (I use this brand for this recipe]
- Fish sauce to taste
- Brown sugar to taste
- 2 Okras, thinly sliced
- A handful of basil leaves (about 10g)
- A long chilli, sliced as garnish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, wet a slice of bread with some water and mash it into fine pieces with a fork. Alternatively you can process the bread in a food processor (without water) until resembles breadcrumbs.
- In a mixing bowl, add lamb mince, bread pieces (or fresh breadcrumbs), a tablespoon of Thai red curry paste, grated lemon rind, salt and pepper. Knead the meat dough until pliable.
- Roll a tablespoon of the meat dough into a ball and repeat this step to the remaining meat dough.
- Heat up a non-stick stir fry pan over a medium flame with a teaspoon of oil. Brown the meatballs until all surface has become slightly brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- In the same stir fry pan (you may want to add some oil if it appears dry), add onion and saute until translucent.
- Add a tablespoon of Thai red curry paste and saute over low heat until aromatic. Add coconut milk and allow it to simmer over low heat. When the sauce starts to bubble, season with fish sauce and brown sugar to taste.
- Return the meatballs to the sauce and allow them to cook for two to three minutes or until you're satisfied that the meatballs are cooked through. Stir in okras and cooked for a minute or so.
- To serve, scatter basil leaves and sliced chilli. Serve immediately with rice. Enjoy!
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Gosh these are the most amazing meatballs I have seen ever and live the idea of adding meatballs in Thai curry!!
Thanks for such wonderful compliment Ami! I love to find other ways to make Thai Red Curry because I love them so much and it is easy to make. 🙂
These look incredible! I make red curry often, but always with chicken thighs…I never thought to use meatballs!
Thanks Abby!I am the same too with the chicken thighs. When I tried the dish at Red Spice Rd, it was a light bulb moment for my blog, lol. Dining out is such a pleasurable way to get cooking inspiration.
Hi Emily,
This recipe looked so good we linked to it from our facebook page here in the U.S. We love seeing lamb recipes that are fun, creative and delicious! Thanks so much!
We’ve been grinding our own lamb for burgers and ragu lately and have been wanting to try something new. This looks like just the thing. Yum!!!