Asian Pork Meatballs

These guys aren’t your avg meatballs!  Boy are they good - it's almost shameful to not try them at least once.  Adding some spring onions, aromatic ginger, sesame & garlic packs these Asian pork meatballs with maximum flavour.  The sweet & spicy sauce takes it to another level and it's the perfect dinner for any night of the week. 

sponsored by The Hidden Sea Winery, South Australia

Why I Love This Recipe

• simple to make
• ready in 30 minutes
• SO tasty
• looks fancy enough to serve at dinner parties/date nights

This recipe has become a FIRM favourite in our home, in fact, we probably eat it every other week! The fact it takes about 10-15 minutes to prepare and the same amount of time to cook is golden when you want insanely tasty food but quickly!

What I really love is all the ingredients are available in your local grocery stores and the bottled/jarred ingredients have great shelf lives so you only need to buy the fresh vegetables!

Trust me when I say, you can cook this for any dinner party and your guests will be WOWED! Prepare the salad ingredients and the Asian pork meatballs in advance and it'll save on time in the kitchen and more time to enjoy their company (and wine)!

Meatball Ingredients

Luckily there aren't a ton of ingredients going into making these Asian pork meatballs and they are all ones that one would typically have in their fridge/pantry so nothing too crazy!

• pork mince - try get pork mince with a little fat content in it. Some stores have lean mince that has about 5% fat and some has up to 17% fat. Personally I like the higher fat content as it keep them a little juicier!
• sesame oil - find it in any Asian store or aisle in the grocery store. You just need a dash so the jar/bottle will keep for a good while in the pantry - unless you are making these on a weekly basis!
• onion - I use spring onion as I am also using them in the salad part but you could easily sub a couple 2 tablespoons of finely diced red onion
• spices - garlic & ginger. I ALWAYS have the 2 in the pantry/fridge but when making this recipe I like to use the pre-minced packets you can get in the grocery store. It just helps speed up the process given you will be using a good amount

Sauce Ingredients

Once again using a few different ingredients to ones you use every day but all of them have long shelf lives so don't stress if you need to go buy them all the first time!

• mirin - is a japenese cooking rice wine which typically contains alcohol but you can get mirin seasoning in any grocery store that doesn't contain alcohol
• rice vinegar - made from fermented rice and very popular in Asian cuisine. If you can't get rice vineagr you could substitute apple cider vinegar
• sesame oil - a healthy fat to add to your diet, it is quite strong in flavour so typically only a small amount is used but the balance of other flavours here means we add 4 tbsp
• garlic - 2 tbsp of crushed garlic used in the recipe so you will defo keep the vampires at bay!
• ginger - about 2 tbsp of crushed ginger, grate it fresh or buy the little pre-minced jars for ease
• honey - bees make it! Not much explanation here! You could sub in brown sugar or maple syrup but personally the honey adds a better flavour
• Asian chilli garlic sauce - it's excatly what it sounds like, an Asian chilli garlic sauce. Buy it at any Asian grocery store or aisle in your local grocery store. I like 3 tbsp in mine but you can add more or less depending upon your spice levels. Store it in the fridge and it'll last for about 6 months!

To make the sauce it's as simple as once the Asian pork meatballs have been browned and transferred to the oven on a baking tray add the ingredients to the frying pan.

Start with the sesame oil, then add the garlic, ginger, chilli sauce & honey and cook for 1 minute, add the mirin and rice vinegar and cook for a further minute and the sauce is ready! It doesn't come any easier!

Beansprout Salad

This is one of my favourite salads to make so it was only fitting that I added it to these delicious Asian pork meatballs. I always have homemade crispy shallots on hand, peanuts in the cupboard and sesame seeds in the pantry so it's just about buying some fresh herbs and vegetables.

The key to cooking is in balance. Here we have a great balance of fresh flavours with sweet, spicy and nutty notes from the meatballs and sauce. The shallots, peanuts and beansprouts also add lovely texture to the dish! It's safe to say its an all-rounder 😉

Slice the snow peas finely & fresh chilli finely, pick the herbs, crush the peanuts and just toss everything together. Finish with a squeeze of lime and you will probably want to eat this salad on its own!

Rice

Does anyone else struggle with something so simple?  Damn, it's like my Achilles heel.  It's prob the only thing the "boss" can make better than me.  Well, the simple answer is a microwave and a rice cooker.  OR just get someone else to do it.  Who knew something so darn easy would make a mockery out of me 99% of the time...........

Crispy Shallots

Have you made my crispy golden shallots?  You know the ones that you can pick up in any Asian market and sprinkle them on top of Asian salads and curries.  Yep, those ones - well click the link HERE and make them yourself.  So good and work great with this Asian pork meatballs recipe to add a little texture on top 😉

Hidden Sea Winery

I first met Justin (co-owner and founder) of The Hidden Sea back when I lived in NYC. He was best mates with a work colleague and good friend of mine Chris McPherson. After moving my life to Australia and starting down this crazy road of food photography and recipe development it was a given that we should team-up.

Since moving to Brisbane I have spent more time on the beach and in the sea than ever before and have a way bigger appreciation for keeping the beautiful golden sands of this country and the world as I had before. So, with the amazing work that Justin and his colleagues are doing, I had to pitch in and help get the word out there. What makes it even better is the wines are seriously crushable. If you want a bottle you can open every day but won't be embarrassed to open with your snobby wine mate then these guys have you sorted!

For every bottle of wine sold by The Hidden Sea in conjunction with RESEA Project, they remove and more importantly recycle 10 plastic bottles. So, you get to drink wine and help the environment at the same time #winwin

What To Pair With Asian Pork Meatballs

If you have been following my blog on a regular basis. Hi Mum & Dad!!! You will know I'm partial to a glass of wine with my dinner so here is my recommendation as to what to pair with this delicious Asian pork meatballs dish!

The Hidden Sea Pinot Grigio! Yep, a pinot grigio! It's not a grape I drink a ton of but boy does it work with this dish. It's light, fragrant and full of fun. Much like me - no wait, I'm the complete opposite................. The wine is new this year to the guys at The Hidden Sea and it's described simply as light, lively and crisp. Flavours of pears and peaches. To me, a bottle of this ice-cold either with your feet up on the couch, sitting around the dinner table with loved ones or here in QLD out on the back deck enjoying the warm weather is simply perfection!

The salad has lots going on but is also very well balanced so when it comes to choosing a wine it's also about balance! The wine can't overpower the dish and this wine just simply works. The bright acidity and the spicy notes of the Asian pork meatballs are well, open a bottle and find out;)

Enough of my ramblings, let's get on with the all-important recipe.

Happy Cooking and Happy Eating Friends!!