Reader Sue E. asked us for recipes from local restaurants. Our response: order up.
Chewology chef Katie Liu-Sung is helping us kick off this new series at KCtoday with a dish from her childhood: Taiwanese pearl meatballs. With a little prep, this recipe is super fun + easy to make — and while it isn’t on the restaurant’s regular menu, keep an eye out, and you might just see it offered as a special.
Ingredients (makes 30 meatballs)
- 1 cup glutinous rice* (Nishiki, RiceSelect, and Hakubai are some options.)
- 3/4 pound lean ground pork
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white peppercorns
- 1/4 pound finely chopped shrimp
- 8 freshwater chestnuts, finely minced, rinsed, peeled and minced*
- 1/4 cup minced green onion
- 1 egg
Equipment
- Bamboo steamer* (or similar)
- Lotus or cabbage leaves*
Steps
- Soak rice in water for 3 hours; drain. (This ensures the rice cooks evenly.)
- In a mixing bowl, combine pork with ginger, garlic, sugar, salt, sesame oil, and white pepper. Mix until pork takes on a sticky consistency. Mix in shrimp, water chestnuts, onions, and egg until well combined.
- Line bamboo steamers with soaked lotus or cabbage leaves. Roll seasoned pork into 30 balls the size of a tablespoon. Spread rice on a plate and gently roll each meatball over grains to cover the entire meatball and place in the steamer. Steam meatballs over boiling water on high for 20 minutes.
- Serve meatballs in the bamboo steamer or move to a serving plate.
*Glutinous rice, freshwater chestnuts, lotus leaves, and bamboo steamers are found at Asian supermarkets. Glutinous rice is also gluten-free (despite the name).
