Ingredients
- *** Meatball ingredients ***
- 2 slices of ginger, finely diced or minced
- 1 scallion, finely chopped
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon chicken stock powder (Knorr or Lee Kum Kee)
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 can of water chestnut, drained (about 200g)
- 500g pork mince (not lean)
- *** Sauce ingredients ***
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 slices ginger
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- *** Vegetables ***
- Bok choy, cut in half. Use as many as you can fit around your serving bowl, about 6 bunches in my case.
Method
- Mix all the meatball ingredients and mix in one direction by hand for at least 10 minutes. The texture will become like a paste, paler in colour and with small strings appearing. Do not skip the time taken here, otherwise the meatball will not hold together when cooking. Shape into 8 or 9 meatballs (both are lucky numbers for this Chinese New Year dish).
- Mix all the sauce ingredients, excluding the ginger slices, together in a small bowl.
- Bring a frypan with 3cm of vegetable oil to 180 degrees. Shallow fry the meatball on all sides until golden brown. It does not need to be cooked through at this stage.
- Pour out most of the oil in the frypan and bring back to heat. Fry the ginger slices until fragrant.
- Mix the sauce together again to distribute the corn flour evenly and pour it in the pan. Stir until it is thickened and no longer cloudy.
- Put the meatballs in the sauce and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat so that it is simmering. Cook it this way for 15 minutes. When halfway through the cooking time, flip the meatballs upside down to get an even colour from the dark soy sauce.
- While the meatballs are cooking, blanche the boy choy for 2 minutes with a splash of oil to create a shiny look when plated. Ensure there is a rolling boil before adding the vegetables. Drain and set aside immediately when done.
- When the meatballs and boy choy are done, it is time to plate. Arrange the bok choy in a circle with the paler base pointing outwards. Arrange the meatballs into a pile in the centre. Pour the remaining sauce over the meatballs.
Product used in recipe
- Valcom - Valcom Water Chestnut Sliced
