Description
A healthy and flavorful meatball and noodle soup featuring tender homemade meatballs simmered in a fragrant broth infused with ginger, lemongrass, star anise, and cinnamon. Served over delicate rice noodles with fresh beansprouts, spring onions, chillies, coriander, and a squeeze of lime for a vibrant and satisfying meal.
Ingredients
Scale
Meatballs
- 1 batch of meatballs (see recipe in ‘Goes well with’)
Soup Base
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- Thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 8 spring onions, finely sliced (reserve some for garnish)
- 2 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 lemongrass sticks, tough outer leaves removed and finely sliced
- 1–2 green chillies, seeds removed if preferred less heat, finely sliced (reserve some for garnish)
- Small bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks separated, both finely chopped
- 1 tbsp light brown soft sugar
- 1¼ litres beef stock
- 1–2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp soy sauce, plus extra to serve
To Serve
- 2 handfuls of ready-to-eat beansprouts
- 3 rice noodle nests
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
Instructions
- Prepare the meatballs: Prepare the meatballs according to your preferred recipe or the one referenced as ‘Goes well with’.
- Brown the meatballs: Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Fry the meatballs in batches, turning every 1-2 minutes until browned all over. Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside on a plate.
- Prepare the broth: Add grated ginger, three-quarters of the spring onions, star anise, cinnamon stick, finely sliced lemongrass, half of the green chilli, coriander stalks, light brown sugar, and beef stock to the pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Simmer the broth: Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 35 minutes until the lemongrass is tender and the flavors have infused fully into the broth.
- Cook the meatballs in broth: Return the browned meatballs to the simmering broth and cook for 10-12 minutes until they are cooked through.
- Season the soup: Add fish sauce to taste, soy sauce, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine.
- Add beansprouts: Add the ready-to-eat beansprouts, increase heat to medium-high, and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
- Prepare the noodles: While the soup finishes cooking, cook the rice noodles according to the package instructions. Drain well.
- Assemble and serve: Divide the cooked noodles among four bowls. Remove the cinnamon stick and star anise from the soup. Ladle the meatballs and broth over the noodles. Garnish with the reserved spring onions, sliced chilli, and coriander leaves. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.
Notes
- You can adjust the level of heat by adding or removing seeds from the chillies.
- The broth benefits from the infusion of aromatic spices; do not skip the simmering step.
- If you prefer a richer broth, use homemade beef stock or bone broth.
- This soup is best served fresh but can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.
- Rice noodles should be cooked just before serving to maintain their delicate texture.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
Keywords: meatball soup, noodle soup, healthy soup, Asian soup, beef meatballs, rice noodles, ginger soup, lemongrass, easy soup recipe
