Szechuan beef balls in mushroom sauce with wide noodles

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 90 g white bread, stale, dry
• 60 g whole milk, lukewarm
• 1 egg(s), size M
• 250 g ground beef, coarsely chopped
• 3 tbsp celery leaves, fresh or frozen
• 2 tsp, leveled chili flakes
• 4 g chicken stock powder
• 3 g glutamate (Aji-No-Moto)
• 150 g mushrooms from the can, whole heads
• 4 small onions, red
• 2 medium-sized garlic cloves
• 2 Pepper, red, long, mild
• 2 small chili peppers
• 20 g ginger root, fresh or frozen, sliced
• 10 g galangal, fresh or frozen, sliced
• 20 g turmeric root, fresh or frozen, sliced
• 20 g lemongrass, fresh or frozen
• 6 m.-large tomato(s), red, fully ripe
• 250 g tomato juice
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen
• 8 cm cinnamon stick(s)
• 60 g coconut milk, creamy, 24% fat
• 200 g water
• 4 g chicken stock powder
• 100 g Chinese egg noodles
• 1 Pepper, red, long, mild
• 1 m.-large Kailan (Chinese broccoli), fresh
• 30 g carrot(s), diced
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (saus tiram)
• 1 ½ liters of frying oil, e.g. peanut oil
• 5 tbsp sunflower oil
• n. B. almond slivers
• n. B. Fruits, cut into pieces

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

Tender, juicy beef meatballs that melt in your mouth, served in a spicy tomato and mushroom sauce.

Cut the white bread into approximately 1 cm cubes. Whisk the lukewarm milk with the beaten egg and a pinch of chicken stock, then soak the white bread in it. Wash the fresh celery leaves, shake dry, and pick off any unblemished leaves and chop them. Use the required amount immediately. Freeze the remaining leaves separately from the chopped stalks. Measure the frozen goods and thaw. Mix the remaining 3 ingredients for the meatballs with the ground beef. Gently press the milk out of the white bread and knead the bread into the meat mixture until smooth. Cover the meat mixture and let it mature in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Strain the mushrooms from the can, rinse briefly, and drain well. Halve half of the mushrooms lengthwise, and cut the rest lengthwise into 4 slices and set aside. Trim both ends of the onions and garlic cloves, peel, and roughly chop into pieces. Wash the red chili peppers, remove the stems, halve lengthwise, remove the seeds and septa, and cut the halves crosswise into approximately 1 cm wide pieces. Wash the small red chilies, cut them into thirds crosswise, leaving the seeds and discarding the stems. Wash the roots, peel them, and cut them crosswise into thin slices. Wash the fresh lemongrass, remove the tough stalk at the bottom, discard the brown and wilted leaves, and use only the white or light green parts. Cut these into thin slices. Remove the outer green leaves if necessary. Weigh and defrost frozen tomatoes. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stalks, halve lengthwise, and remove the green stalks. Halve the halves lengthwise, remove the seeds, and cut them crosswise into thirds. Heat a wok and add 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil; heat until hot. Add the ingredients, from onions to lemongrass, and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Deglaze with the tomato juice and simmer with the lid on for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Transfer the wok mixture to a blender along with the tomato paste and puree for 1 minute on high speed. Transfer the puree to a covered casserole dish. Add the kaffir lime leaves and cinnamon stick and simmer gently with the lid on for 30 minutes. For the colorful noodles, wash the peppers, remove the stems, cut lengthwise, open, deseed, and cut crosswise into thin strips. Wash the fresh kailan and separate the leaves from the stem. Discard the mostly woody stem. Separate the thin leaf stalks from the leaves along the midrib, halving the leaves lengthwise. Cut the leaf stalks crosswise into thin rolls about 5 mm thick. Cut the large leaf halves crosswise into strips about 8 mm wide, and then cut these lengthwise into pieces about 3 cm wide. Keep the leaves and stem rolls separate. Heat the water and dissolve the chicken stock in it. Break the dry noodles into smaller pieces and add them to the boiling chicken stock. Cook al dente according to the package instructions. Strain, keeping the stock and noodles separate. Remove the cinnamon stick and leaves from the sauce. Add the mushrooms and coconut milk and continue to simmer uncovered. Heat the frying oil to 180°C. Form the meat mixture into ping-pong ball-sized balls and drop them one at a time into the oil. When they are light brown, remove them with a slotted spoon and add them to the sauce. Continue cooking until all the meat mixture is used up. Heat the remaining sunflower oil in a cleaned wok. Add the peppers, kailan stems, and diced carrots and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the noodles and kailan leaves and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Deglaze with 4 tablespoons of the pasta broth mixed with the oyster sauce and simmer briefly, then transfer to a warmed serving plate. Pour the mushroom sauce over the meatballs, garnish, and serve warm.