Stop number six on the Hello Fresh road is Firecracker Meatballs. Fortunately the firecracker part is added at the end so it can be mitigated for those who still have taste buds and are not enamored by ridiculous amounts of pepper – red or otherwise – in their food.

All the ingredients laid out on the counter. In a previous recipe the bag lacked the garlic clove(s) so this time I laid everything out and looked for missing parts. None were missing this time. In all recipes you are on the hook for common things like olive oil, butter, salt and pepper.

I made the sriracha sauce first. I had not made this sauce before but mincing onions and ginger I have done many times. Over the years I have grown to like minced garlic in a jar. My market has it in both oil and water. It is convenient so I have both in the fridge.

I do not ordinarily keep ginger in stock. Although it was spongy and drying out it was not done for yet so I peeled it and minced it up. Had I gotten it from my larder I probably would have made a trip to the small market near me to get a new tuber. This one probably needed the little baggy that all the other stuff was in, after all if you can put two green onions in a sealed bag you should be able accommodate an ounce or so of ginger root.

I forgot to stagger my meatballs. I need a bit of salt and pepper for the green beans and then in it goes. The rice is complete at this point.

Other than the sad looking ginger this recipe seemed to have a greater amount of crap after everything was mixed, balled and tossed. Some ingredients are housed in steel impregnated hermetically sealed bags of remarkable tear resistance. Out of the picture is a kitchen scissors that we have had for most of our married life.

Nicely garnished with sliced green onion tops and chili pepper.

Less pepper for her.

Roasted green beans have never been a favorite of mine and this recipe did not assuage that opinion in any way. This particular recipe – Sriracha meatballs would pair up easily with a sweeter side. Butternut squash, carrots or roasted sweet potatoes comes to mind. Roasted chewy green beans, although not my first choice, probably would not have been my second or third choice either.

Everyone likes different things, however, and overall she declared taste was good. I plan to try the meatballs with other things. The rice was good. A few years ago when I was in China, I noticed that the rice there tasted different, better somehow. I have since learned that Jasmine rice is also known as Thai fragrant rice, given its pleasant popcorn-like smell. This is due to the presence of a molecule called 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. Huh. A chemistry fact hiding in the cooking.

Take-aways: roasted green beans suck, Jasmine rice is different than American rice, hot spicy stuff goes better with sweeter sides.