I was craving Asian-anything the other night - I didn't care if it was Chinese or Thai or Vietnamese or what. I think I kind of drew from a lot of different Asian cooking influences when I made these meatballs and they came out so bomb! They remind me a little of the filling you get in pot stickers, and are, in fact, very similar to our pot sticker recipe, found here. Lots of veggies in these suckers! In fact as I was chopping all the veggies up and throwing them in the bowl for pics, Justin asked where the meat was? He didn't see that it was in the bottom of the mixing bowl... just covered with a ton of vegetables.
The citrus sauce was Justin's idea. I was just going to do a wine sauce, but we had some oranges and lemons on hand and I really liked the idea of the bright citrus flavour to go with the meatballs. Way tasty! And all served with a cold quinoa and Napa cabbage salad... because you're going to have enough cabbage for both the meatballs and the salad! Might as well use it all up! ( actually only used 1/2 the Napa cabbage and sauted up the other 1/2 with the rest of the red onion the next night!) But the quinoa and cabbage salad was a great contrast - I liked the crunch and lightness of the raw cabbage, cucumber and onion in the salad to go with the meatballs and sauce. It all came together really well and satisfied that Asian food craving!
We'll be headed to a DS-13 show next weekend, so let's listen to a little Swedish hardcore with, "I Don't Wanna Be A Skinhead". Neither do I, dude. Neither do I. -jen
ASIAN MEATBALLS
Napa Cabbage
Prep Time: about 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
Difficulty: Medium
Makes: 60 meatballs
Meatball Ingredients:
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground turkey
2 cups finely chopped Napa cabbage
1 cup finely diced carrots (3 medium)
3/4 cup finely diced celery (2 medium)
1 cup finely diced green onions (1 bunch)
1 cup finely diced Anaheim or bell peppers (2 medium)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used 3/4c cilantro, 1/4c basil, 1/4c mint)
3 teaspoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes (1 tbsp for less spicy - 2 tbsp just has a small kick)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese mustard
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 cup panko bread crumbs
canola oil for frying
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients EXCEPT the canola oil and mix until combined. If you have a food processor, I recommend throwing all the veggies into that to get them super-fine diced. While it's not necessary, the meatball will hold together better the finer the veggies are chopped.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Form 1.5 tablespoons of mixture into balls. In a large skillet, add enough oil to cover the bottom and heat to medium-high. Brown in batches. Space balls evenly in pan so that they're not touching. I only browned tops and bottoms. Remove browned meatballs and set on a paper towel to remove excess grease. Once all meatballs are browned, arrange on baking sheet. (Don't rinse out that skillet!) Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until an internal temperature of 165 degrees is reached.
Citrus Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 cup diced red onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
juice of 1 orange
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken broth (you'll want 3 cups total of juice, wine and broth)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons cornstarch (and 2 tbsp water)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (used the same ones as in meatballs: cilantro, basil, mint)
In the skillet that you browned the meatballs, you'll want about 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. My pork was lean, so I had to add oil to the pan - if you got higher-fat pork, you may have enough oil in the pan remaining or you may even have to remove some. Saute onions until translucent and tender. Add garlic and saute for another minute. Add your 3 cups combined of citrus juice, wine and broth to the skillet as well as the soy sauce and the citrus zest, making sure you scrape those browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Bring to a boil and let reduce for about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl combine 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water to make a slurry. Whisk this in to the sauce until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed and stir in fresh herbs. Serve over Asian Meatballs with Quinoa Salad (see recipe below).
In a large sauce pan, over medium-high heat, add quinoa and cook about 2 minutes to toast - you'll see the quinoa start to turn a darker, golden brown and you'll smell that nutty, toasty deliciousness. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil, than cover, lower heat, and simmer for a total of 18 minutes, stirring half-way through. After 18 minutes, turn off heat and let rest with lid on for another 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Transfer to a large serving bowl and let cool another 10 minutes. Stir in Napa cabbage, diced cucumber and diced onion. Serve at room temp or chilled.
I've been having a serious craving for good Chinese food and unfortunately, there's no Chinese food
restaurants in our little town that we like. We had our wedding catered in '08 by a friend who owned the best Chinese restaurant in town, but the building burned down a few years later and she never reopened it. We've been without good Chinese food in town and the solution to that - make it ourselves.
While these are mildly time consuming, they're actually fairly easy to make. If two people can get together and make them, it makes it much faster. One person can be chopping vegetables while the other is adding them to the pork with the wet ingredients. Then during assembly time, one person can be scooping the mix onto the wraps while the other pinches and seals the dumplings. Team work!
We always have a ton of vegetables in our house, so we actually had a lot of the ingredients already and it didn't cost us much at all. If you have to buy all the vegetables and end up with leftovers, just chop it all up for a salad - we eat cabbage and vegetable salads all the time. Or soup would be another good option for the leftover cabbage, pepper, onion, carrot... man, you could make a killer soup!
I went old school for tunes with this recipe and pulled out X's "Nausea". I got to see them a few times in Chicago. I always think of John Doe (bass player) in the movie "Great Balls of Fire" as Winona Ryder's dad. I love that movie. It's so terrible and cheesy and awesome. -jen
PORK POT STICKERS (CHINESE DUMPLINGS) Prep Time: about 45 minutes Rest Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 6 minutes Difficulty: Medium Makes: about 80
1 pound ground pork
1 cup cabbage (Napa or green), finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
We've been buying poblano peppers instead of bell peppers because
they're significantly cheaper and similar in flavour!
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (except the wonton wrappers, oil and water) until well mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (but you can refrigerate longer).
Sprinkle a baking sheet lightly with corn starch and set aside. Have a small bowl of water for your assembly. I worked with 9 at a time on a cutting board, keeping the unused ones covered with plastic wrap so they don't dry out. Place 1 teaspoon of filling into center of wrapper. Wet edge of wrapper and fold over, crimping/pinching edges together to seal. Place pot sticker on the corn starched baking sheet.
(If you don't want to cook all 80 pot stickers, you can freeze them uncooked on the baking sheet for about an hour, then put in a freezer bag and freeze for later.)
In a large skillet (that has a fitted lid), heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil over a medium high heat. Add pot stickers to pan, one at a time, in a single layer. (In our 11" skillet, we could fit 18-20 at once.) Do not over-crowd. Fry for 2 minutes until light golden-brown. Add 1/3 cup of water, cover and steam for 2 minutes. Remove lid and continue to fry for another 2 minutes. If you do a second batch, just add more oil to the pan and let it get hot before adding your second batch and repeat.
Serve hot with dipping sauce (see recipe below).
I like to put the veggies in,
then pour the wet ingredients over them
In a small bowl, add all ingredients. You can use immediately, but if you make it before you start assembling your pot stickers and stick it in the fridge to let the flavours marry, it tastes way better!
Justin's made an Eastern-European style cabbage rolls a few times and we have a recipe for them here. But ever since he did, I was thinking of other things we could stuff cabbage rolls with... and I instantly craved an egg roll-type pork filling. Today I finally remembered to make it, along with a chopped vegetable Asian style salad.
Wow. I first posted this using a song we already used. That was smooth. Let's go with something different.... and angry. Paint It Black doing "Labor Day". Because sometimes... it feels like a nine to five death march. -jen
ASIAN CABBAGE ROLLS Prep Time: 15-20 minutes Rest Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 35 minutes Difficulty: Medium Makes: About 12 rolls
1 pound ground pork
whole Napa cabbage leaves
1.5 cup Napa cabbage, chopped fine
1 cup mushrooms, chopped fine
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup bean sprouts, chopped
1/3 cup green onions, chopped fine (2-3 medium onions)
On a large cutting board or your counter, use a rolling pin to flatten the whole cabbage leaves, one
leaf at a time. This will help with the rolling process. Make sure to break down the ribs. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine all remaining ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight. Drain off any excess juice. Lay two cabbage leaves out, slightly overlapping with the stems nearest you. Measure 1/4-1/3 cup of the meat mixture and place in the center of the leaves. Starting with the stems, carefully roll-up over meat, tucking sides in as you go.
Place rolls seam-side down in a 9x13 baking dish. (Line with foil for easier clean up!) Cover tightly with foil and bake at 400 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, until pork is cooked thoroughly (160 degrees).
Serve with Asian Dipping Sauce (recipe below).
ASIAN DIPPING SAUCE (It's like pot sticker sauce!)
Split cumbers in half length-wise. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and discard. Dice cucumbers. Add remaining ingredients and toss. If you can make this ahead of time, the taste improves after it rests a while.
For years now, when we've wanted an Asian dressing, we've just thrown some crap together. Some have been good, some have been not-so-good, but we never wrote down what we did. So a little while ago, I decided I was going to get myself a solid recipe that I could make that would be consistently awesome every time. Bam! Here it is! I love this dressing! We use it for all kinds of things: green leaf salads with some cucumber, shredded carrot, green onions and cashews; marinade for chicken or pork (but only marinate it for a few hours or the vinegar and lime juice will "cook" the meat and make it kind of mealy); sometimes we'll toss some veggies like broccoli, onions, bell peppers and zucchini with it and then roast them; made a Thai-style 4-bean salad with it. Very diverse. Very yummy.
I was in an Elvis mood the other day (because I love Elvis)... but then I remembered U.S. Bombs' "Rocks in Memphis" and had to listen to it again. You think Lisa Marie has even heard this song? -jen
ASIAN SALAD DRESSING AND MARINADE Time: all of like... 5 minutes, maybe, if you measure slowly Difficulty: Easy Makes: 1.5 cups
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons hoisen
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon hot mustard (or any mustard)
dash of sriracha (or more, if you want it spicy)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 cup canola (or vegetable) oil
Combine all ingredients together in a blender and blend for a few seconds! You can store this in your refrigerator for a few weeks at least. It should emulsify pretty well, so there shouldn't be much separation. Just give it a quick shake before use!
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients EXCEPT the canola oil and mix until combined. If you have a food processor, I recommend throwing all the veggies into that to get them super-fine diced. While it's not necessary, the meatball will hold together better the finer the veggies are chopped. 
Cook Time: 20 minutes
