Meatballs aren't limited to the cuisine of Italy. In fact, most cultures have some form of ground or minced meat combined with flavorful spices and formed into a ball. This week, I'm preparing a Thai version of chicken meatballs.

These meatballs come together with the help of a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, finely chop your ingredients and combine them in a bowl.

I use a small cookie scoop to form 1-inch balls. Instead of making a mess pan-frying the meatballs, I bake them in a baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

I serve a couple of meatballs wrapped in a butter lettuce leaf with a drizzle of Asian sweet chili sauce or hoisin sauce. You can find both sauces in the Asian section of most supermarkets. The lettuce wraps make a nice appetizer and are a family dinner that will be a welcome change of pace.

The chicken mixture also can be formed into patties to make Thai chicken burgers.

Divide the mixture into four equal patties and grill them inside on a grill pan or outside on the grill. Because the chicken is so lean, be sure to brush your grill with oil before adding the burgers.

You can serve the burgers on buns topped with a mixture of hoisin sauce and mayonnaise and a lettuce leaf.

Some of the coleslaw from last week's recipe also would make nice topping for the burgers.

Reach Karin Calloway in care of The Augusta Chronicle Newsroom, P.O. Box 1928, Augusta, GA 30903, or at karin.calloway@comcast.net.

THAI CHICKEN MEATBALL LETTUCE WRAPS

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, coarsely chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2-1 small jalapeno pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped, to taste

1 teaspoon minced garlic, about 1 large clove

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Zest and juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

Sweet chili or hoisin sauce, for serving

Boston lettuce leaves, for serving

Combine everything except sauce and lettuce leaves in a food processor and pulse until well-minced, about 10 pulses. Cover the bowl of the food processor with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Form the chicken mixture into 1-inch meatballs and place in the baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, until done.

Serve the meatballs wrapped in lettuce leaves and drizzled with the sauce.

Makes 4 servings.

COMING NEXT WEEK: Karin will tell you how to grill your salad along with your steaks, chicken or burgers with her simple grilled Caesar salad.