Easy Steamed Chinese Meat Balls

Originally posted February 2009 on my Facebook:

I seem to be posting lots of recipes lately. But it's all because I've been cooking at home more often. Here's a super easy recipe for when you want a fast tasty dinner.The meatballs are pretty low fat and should be golf ball sized.

You'll Need

1- 1/12 lb ground pork (you can sub in ground turkey too)
1/3 jar of Chinese Pickled Cucumbers, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks of green onions, minced
1 tsp rice wine (or mirin)
2 tbsp pickled cucumber liquid

For sauce:
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup water

To Make:

I usually just toss all the vegetables to be minced into my food processor before add the pickled cucumber, garlic and green onion to the pork. Add in the liquids and mix in a large bowl. Make sure you mix in one direction only to create chewier meatballs.

Make the meatballs by placing about 1 1/2 tbsp of the meat mixture in the palm of your hand and then squeeze the meat through the opening between your thumb and index finger. This gets rid of air bubbles. Then shape the blob into a ball. Place on a lightly greased dish. Pour on the sauce mixture. Make sure the dish is at least 1-2 inches deep to hold the liquids.

Prepare a steamer. If you have a small steaming rack that would fit on the bottom of a large pot, it would be perfect. Just fill the pot with water up to the top of the steaming rack and place the dish with the meatballs on top. Cover the pot with its lid and cook on high for 15 -20 minutes or until meatballs are firm.

If you don't have a steaming rack, you can use one of those vegetable steamers that has holes and just make a little aluminum foil tray for it or use a pie tin (something light weight) to hold the meatballs. I tried the foil trick for steaming fish and it worked like a charm.

Serve over hot rice. Enjoy!