Name: Thai Coconut Turkey Meatballs
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 1 1/4 pounds ground turkey; 2 teaspoons curry powder; 1 large egg; 1/3 cup breadcrumbs; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger; 14 ounces Kevin’s Natural Foods Thai coconut sauce; 1 cup jasmine or basmati rice; 14 ounces reduced fat coconut milk; 1/4 cup chicken broth; 3 tablespoons butter

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Thai Coconut Turkey Meatballs are packed with Thai flavor and creamy coconut goodness. They’re a quick and easy meal for any night of the week.

What’s in a curry? That which doesn’t taste so spicy would be delicious to eat with rice. Yes, it’s a play on Shakespeare. But I’m sure y’all are just as confused as I am with all the Thai curry versions. Which, by the way, aren’t traditional in the curry sense of the word. Heck, even the word curry isn’t traditional in our understanding of it.

What is curry?

Curry is a made-up word. I’m serious. It was a western word for what travelers to those areas making what we think of as curry called the dishes they found in those area. That’s not vague at all.

Basically, they couldn’t figure out what to call that type of cuisine and just called it curry based on the Tamil word kari which means sauce. So, basically, it’s any dish with a sauce. Pot roast curry. Chicken and dumplings curry. They both have sauce, right?

The first evidence of something resembling a curry is in 2600 BCE where talk about using a mortar and pestle to combine spices into a mixture they flavored cooked meats and vegetables. But it didn’t stop there. Curry has had lots of influence from Asia, Portugal, and finally Caribbean influences in the mid-1900s.

I think part of the reason those colonizers had a hard time figure out what the dish is has to due with the nature of the spice mix itself. Curry, which is actually masala to my understanding, is different based on your house. It could be a town specific blend, but for the most part each family has their own spice blend for their curry dishes.

This creates the confusion about what is curry. If you check Wikipedia, it lists a huge range of dishes and combinations. It’s a range of spices. Curry refers to a dish made with a paste and coconut milk eaten over rice, like this one. Curries contain fish, meat, poultry, shellfish, and sometime game meats. It can be vegetarian, too. They are dry where the liquid evaporates or wet with a gravy like consistency. You can understand the confusion and vagueness associated with this word.

So, what’s the difference between all the Thai curries?

Basically, the answer to that is ingredients. The main difference between Thai curry and other traditional curry mixes are the inclusion of more fresh herbs and citrus. They have coconut milk for a velvety smooth and light texture to the sauce. Finally, Thai curries usually start with a paste.

Thai curries are lighter in texture and taste. You have a fresh and bright flavor that’s not too heavy. But they’re also spicier typically. However, this sauce is not spicy at all. But it is velvety smooth. You won’t believe me, but once it’s cooked the sauce is super creamy and delicious.

Then what is Caribbean curry?

They start out with a curry powder like Indian curry. But that’s where the similarities end. The powder has some of the same ingredients, but the larger difference is the additional of allspice to Caribbean curry. They use a spice blend as a rub, and they use the scotch bonnet peppers. Sometimes.

I was stuck on meatballs with these sauces for some reason. I think it’s because they can be both dinner and an appetizer. Can you imagine it? You offer up some cocktail meatballs for an appetizer and it’s not your typical chili sauce and grape jelly concoction. It’s full of coconut creaminess and Thai flavors.

What is the difference between the five variations of Thai curries?

Green curry is made with lots of fresh chilis, Thai basil, lime leaves, ginger, shallots, garlic, and turmeric. It’s the hottest Thai curry and also the sweetest Thai curry with a large amount of coconut milk in there.

Red curry can also be spicy, too. This version has a paste made of red chilis, shallots, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass that is mixed with coconut milk to make the sauce. Then there’s Penang curry which is similar to red curry but has peanuts added making it a little sweeter.

Yellow curry has its own variations based on heat and flavor. Gold curry is spicier than your standard yellow. Elephant curry is also spicy but has coconut milk in there. Then there’s orange curry with has no coconut milk and is more sour. All versions are made primarily made with turmeric with yellow mustard seeds, cumin, kaffir lime leaves, and coconut cream instead of milk.

On the flip side of that there’s Massaman curry. It’s more like Indian curry but adds lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk. It is garnished with potatoes and peanuts. Finally, similar to the Massaman and yellow curry is a curry soup called khao soi. It is topped with egg noodles and comes with chicken or beef.

I know. I’ve completely overloaded you with Thai curry information. But I wanted to know and if I wanted to know, I’m sure you wanted to know. So, I thought I would just look it up and inform all of us on the differences.

You can see how creamy and rich this sauce it. It completely coats the Thai curry turkey meatballs with silky rich, Thai coconut curry sauce goodness. They’re sitting on a bed of coconut jasmine rice which is also creamy and delicious. By the way, the black flecks are black pepper. I added garlic salt and black pepper to the rice along with the butter. This is one of my favorite rice recipes!

Every time I mention anything with coconut for dinner the hubs turns his nose up. He doesn’t like coconut or so he says. I just don’t think he likes shredded or fresh coconut. He likes the toasted coconut chips. And, as we all know, coconut milk doesn’t really taste like coconut at all. So, for those of you on the fence about coconut milk, have no fear. It makes the Thai coconut sauce super creamy but adds no coconut flavor at all.

The turkey meatballs are a simple combination of some ground turkey, ginger, garlic, and a touch of curry powder with a little bit of the Thai coconut sauce in there, too. The curry meatballs are delicious on their own. And you can easily use these with the Korean BBQ sauce or any other Asian style sauces for dinner or appetizers. They can stand alone as a dinner, too.

I keep reliving the creamy goodness of these meatballs.

So, you know I will be making these Thai Coconut Turkey Meatballs again in the near future. The sauce is rich and delicious, but not heavy. It’s NOT heavy at all! The Thai coconut sauce is packed with flavor from the lime, ginger, basil, lemongrass, and coconut milk. It’s such a simple sauce to have on hand for a quick and easy dinner. The competition is over for this company, but I still have several of their sauces left to cook with. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of them! So, I know you will, too.

See how that sauce just coats the meatballs? I cannot convey the creaminess of this sauce on these meatballs to you. It’s like silk. The Thai coconut sauce is like silk. Light and decadent all at the same time. We ate these several months ago and I can remember how creamy it is. Did I say how creamy it is?

I made these in the pressure cooker. We have the Ninja Foodie 9-in-1 Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker. It was a blog present to us for putting up with it over the years. And because it had a stellar third quarter for some reason. I mean, STELLAR! So, the blog bought us a couple of pressies this Christmas. And I have I got to say, I haven’t jumped on my product band wagon but I totally LOVE this pressure cooker. It’s my go to, stays on the counter, small appliance. I use it every week. Sometimes a few times in the week. It makes quick work of dinner. And it made quick work of these meatballs.

That’s jasmine rice. I’m reading the differences between Jasmine and Basmati and I’m thinking they’re selling Jasmine as Basmati. My Jasmine rice separates and doesn’t clump but my basmati does. The Basmati rice is definitely nuttier and has more aroma. You’re supposed to soak it prior to cooking, but I never do and mine comes out just fine. Who knows? Maybe I’ll do a post on rice. Because I love rice. And eat it all the time. It’s definitely the perfect vessel for this cream (I said it again!) sauce and meatballs.