Just a little bit different

Every once in a while I get in health kick and become very conscious of what I’m eating. While on the pursuit of healthfulness I went to eatingwell.com for recipe ideas. I decided to venture away from the types of food I normally eat and I decided to try a recipe called…
Szechuan Braised Meatballs
(The reason I call this entry “Just a little bit different” is because some of the essential items of the recipe were substituted. They were substituted because I couldn't find most of these things in the store.)
1 lbs ground beef
1 6oz can of water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 tsp of cornstarch
½ tsp 5-spice powder - Emerial’s Asian spice¼ tsp salt
1 cup reduced-sodium beef broth
4 tsp canola oil -Vegetable oil
2 cloves minced garlic
½ tsp crush red pepper flakes
¼ cup Szechuan sauce - Hunan sauce
4 cups shredded napa cabbage - Romain hearts
1 50oz can straw mushrooms - Something that looked like a long skinny straw mushroom2 scallions

• Gently mix beef, water chestnuts, 2 tsp cornstarch, 5-spice, and salt in a medium bowl.
• Shape mixture into 12 balls.
• In another bowl, whisk broth and remaining cornstarch until smooth.
• Heat 2 tsp oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
• Add meatballs and cook until brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• Add remaining oil to pan with garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir for about 30 seconds.
• Add broth mixture, Szechuan sauce, cabbage, and mushrooms. Cook and stir until cabbage is wilted.
• Reduce heat to simmer, return meatballs to the pan, cover and cook. About 8 – 10 minutes.
• Sprinkle with scallions.

The food next to the meatballs are the ginger carrots, which you can find in an earlier post.

I think the recipe was great and simple, but was really made it for me was the Hunan sauce. There was a perfect mixture, of heat and crunch. It was also wallet-friendly and very filling. With the addition of the romain hearts “salad” I don’t feel this needs any side dish either.