Chicken & basil meatballs

MAKES 24 (12 of each flavour – easily doubled) PREP 20 mins COOK 20 mins EASY

1 shallot 250g chicken breast

25g seeded bread

1/3 pack fresh basil leaves 1 clove garlic rapeseed oil, for frying for the Thai chicken chicory bites 12 chicory leaves, red or green sriracha or Thai sweet chilli sauce, to serve

1 spring onion, cut lengthways and shredded into fine strips 25g salted peanuts, finely chopped for the roasted pepper sticks 2 roasted red peppers, cut into 24 chunks 24 fresh basil leaves you will need 24 cocktail sticks

1 Put the shallot into a food processor and pulse briefly to chop. Add all the remaining meatball ingredients, except for the oil, and blitz to make a soft purée. Shape into 24 mini meatballs with wet hands.

2 Heat a drizzle of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add half the meatballs and fry for 5 mins, moving them around the pan to evenly colour them. Remove from the pan and cook the remaining meatballs. Keep chilled until ready to serve. Will keep in the fridge for up to one day.

3 To serve, warm the meatballs, if you like, at 180C/160C fan/gas 4 for 10 mins, then arrange half in the chicory leaves, top with some chilli sauce and sprinkle with the onion and peanuts.

4 For the pepper version, thread the meatballs onto 12 cocktail sticks with the 2 chunks of pepper and 2 fresh basil leaves either side.

GOOD TO KNOW low cal • healthy

PER THAI CHICKEN CHICORY BITE (12) 29 kcals

• fat 1g • saturates none • carbs 1g • sugars none • fibre none • protein 3g • salt 0.1g

PER ROASTED PEPPER STICK (12) 29 kcals • fat 1g • saturates none • carbs 1g • sugars none • fibre none

• protein none • salt 0.1g