Pearl meatballs

"My dad used to make this for me and we'd roll the meatballs together. What happened, life used to be so simple? Anyway, I based this beautiful, tasty snack size recipe on his recipe, with some help from the recipe by Woks of Life."

Pearl meatballs Credit: Adam Liaw

• serves

  4

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 200 g (1 cup) sticky rice
• 500 g fatty pork mince
• 6 fresh or canned water chestnuts, finely chopped
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked, stalks discarded, caps finely chopped
• 5 spring onions, white ends only, finely chopped
• 3 tsp finely chopped ginger
• 2 tbsp cold water
• ½ tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• ½ tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 4-6 Chinese cabbage leaves (wombok)
• coriander sprigs, to garnish
• Sriracha sauce and sweet soy sauce, to serve

Soaking time: 2 hours

Chilling/freezing time: 30 minutes

Instructions

1. Soak the sticky rice in plenty of cold water for about 2 hours.
2. When the rice has about 30 minutes soaking time remaining, place the pork mince in a bowl with all the remaining ingredients except the cabbage leaves and stir vigorously for a few minutes or until the mixture is a bit white and fluffy. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Line the bottom of a large steamer with the Chinese cabbage leaves. Drain the rice, shake off the excess water and transfer to a plate.
4. Roll the pork mixture into tablespoon- sized meatballs, then roll the meatballs in the sticky rice ensuring it sticks to the outside. Make sure you clean your hands between rolls otherwise you could get hard rice into the balls. Place the rolled meatballs onto the leaves in the steamer.
5. Steam the meatballs over high heat, starting with cold water for 20 minutes and then let sit for a few minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve with sriracha and sweet soy sauce, or whatever sauce you like.

Photography by Adam Liaw.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.