Recipe: Meatball Soup with Spinach and Crispy Garlic (Gaeng jeut look chin moo ru neua)

MEATBALL SOUP WITH SPINACH AND CRISPY GARLIC
(GAENG JEUT LOOK CHIN MOO RU NEUA)

"Too busy or too tired to cook, but too hungry not to? This is the soup for you. Served Thai style, it goes with rice and other dishes, but if you ladle the soup over a big bowl of cooked rice noodles, jasmine rice, or elbow macaroni, you will have a one-pot, one-bowl, satisfying meal. I use a bag of washed, prepped spinach, preferably the sturdy, curly, dark green kind, but baby spinach leaves are also fine, as are Swiss chard, watercress or bok choy."

4 cups water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped garlic
1/2 pound ground pork or ground beef
About 8 cups fresh spinach leaves, washed and trimmed (about 10 ounces)
2 green onions, thinly sliced crosswise
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the water to a rolling boil.

Meanwhile, for the crispy garlic in oil: Place a small heatproof bowl by the stove. Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium heat until a bit of garlic sizzles at once. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until it is fragrant and golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, pour hot garlic and oil into the heatproof bowl, and set aside to cool.

When the water is boiling wildly, add the ground pork in generous pinches, by hand or by teaspoons, making free-form meatballs. Stir well, and simmer 3 to 4 minutes until meat is cooked.

Remove from heat and stir in the spinach, green onions, fish sauce, salt, and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl, pour the crispy garlic and oil mixture over the soup, and serve hot.

Makes 4 servings
Source: Quick and Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes by Nancie McDermott