It's called a pearl meatball because the rice covering the meatball adds a beautiful shimmer to the dish,
making it elegant and delicious!
The recipe below is a basic recipe to follow, but can be adjusted to taste:
1 cup of soaked glutinous rice (soaked for 2 hours)
1 lb ground pork
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2-3 Tbsp sesame oil
1 spray green onion (chopped)
1/2 can water chestnuts (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 egg
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
Optional: Dried Shitaki mushrooms (3-4) (soaked and chopped)
Optional: Dried shrimp (soaked and chopped)
How to Make a Chinese Pearl Meatball:
1. Soak the rice for 2 hours.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients with ground pork in a mixing bowl and add 1 to 1.5 cups of water. Mix well and let sit for 30 minutes.
4. Roll the meat into a small ball.
6. Place onto a plate that can sit inside of a bamboo steamer.
*If you do not have a bamboo steamer you can steam your meatball in a steamer rack on top of a rice cooker or other steaming system*
7. Bring 1/2 pot of water to boil and place the stacked bamboo steamer on top. Make sure there's a good seal between the pot and the steamer.
8. Steam for 30 minutes.
9. Let cool and serve.
This dish was delicious and elegant! But even more importantly, it was a great education for everyone there to learn some of the tricks to cooking this traditional Chinese dish. Thanks to Juying for all of her work and great cooking!
