Asian Meatballs & Rice - From Family Table to the Lunchbox

Its no secret to people that Asian flavours are a favourite in my household. I love creating Asian style recipes and this is one of my all time favourites simply because of the depth of flavour in the sauce.

If my 6 years as a parent has taught me anything about kids and food it is this - kids love meatballs and they love rice so coupled together this is always a winner on the dinner table!

This recipe came about as I often use meatballs as a lunch option for the kids lunches. They love being in the kitchen with me rolling the "balls" when I batch cook for school and I know they will always be eaten when I use them in their lunchbox.

There is one thing I love more than a quick and easy lunchbox, and that is a dinner that has leftovers I can then use for lunches and portion off and freeze.

This recipe came up trumps for me. A simple trick of doubling both the rice and meatballs meant we had a beautiful dinner and I had 4 lunchbox options in the freezer:

Meatball subs - use dinner rolls and fill with meatballs, lettuce and cheese for a delicious sub

Meatballs and Rice - whether it be hot or cold this is a winner in all lunches

"Fried Rice" - my daughters favourite and I thinly slice some cooked chicken over the top

Cocktail meatballs - simply 3-4 meatballs with a food pick and there is lunch!

Prep 20 min // Cook 3 hours (meatballs are slow cooked)

INGREDIENTS

Meatballs

500g of pork/veal mince (or you can use lean beef)

2 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground nutmeg

1 egg

1 tbs garlic powder

1 onion diced finely

1 tbs diced coriander

Sauce Ingredients

4 gloves garlic crushed

1 tsp ginger

1 cup hoisin sauce

3 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs Chinese cooking wine

1 tbs oyster sauce

1 tbs honey

1 tbs brown sugar

Rice

2 cups cooked cold rice

1 packet steam fresh peas, corn and carrot cooked

½ red capsicum diced

3 tbs leftover sauce from slow cooker

METHOD

Meatballs

1. Mix together all the meatball ingredients and roll tbs size mixture into a ball and set aside.

2. Mix together all the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

3. Place meatballs in the slow cooker and pour the sauce over the top.

4. Cook on high for 1 -2 hours or low for 2-4 hours,

Rice

1. Place rice in a pan and stir fry for two minutes.

2. Stir through the vegetables and add 3 tbs of the sauce from the slow cooker and stir through.

Place meatballs on top of the rice and drizzle over some of that amazing sauce!