Asian Meatballs Recipe - 4 Points | LaaLoosh (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to keeping meatballs together? ›

Drop the meatballs into simmering pasta sauce, do not stir for at least 20 minutes or you will risk breaking the meatballs. Continue cooking in the simmering sauce for another 20 minutes (depending on how fast your sauce is simmering 40 minutes total should fully cook the meatballs).

Ingredients. The key ingredient of hoisin sauce is fermented soybean paste. Some hoisin sauce ingredients include starches such as sweet potato, wheat and rice, and water, sugar, soybeans, sesame seeds, white distilled vinegar, salt, garlic, red chili peppers, and sometimes preservatives or coloring agents.

Korean meatballs are typically made with ground beef, crumbs, eggs, and Asian flavors like gochujang, garlic, scallions, ginger, and soy sauce.

Egg and breadcrumbs are common mix-ins to add moisture and tenderness. Another binder option that people swear by is a panade, which is fresh or dry breadcrumbs that have been soaked in milk. “The soaked breadcrumbs help keep the proteins in the meat from shrinking,” as food writer Tara Holland explained in the Kitchn.

The Key to Tender Meatballs

Here, we're soaking fresh or dried breadcrumbs in a little milk until the bread becomes soggy, then mixing that right into the meat. This binder (aka panade) helps add moisture to the meatballs and also prevents the meat proteins from shrinking and becoming tough.

Using the wrong amount of bread crumbs (or flour)

Adding too many bread crumbs to the mix will cause your meatballs to become loose and fall apart.

Adding raw meatballs to the sauce and gently simmering till cooked yields ultra-tender results, and infuses the sauce with meaty flavor—a slow cooker gives great results.

Is it better to bake or pan fry meatballs? ›

Baking will result in meatballs with a crunchy exterior, though the caramelisation achieved from frying will be superior. Baked meatballs take the least amount of effort, as you'll only need to turn them once or twice throughout the cook and you can make a larger batch at once.

Meatballs Can Overcook In A Soup

If they're left in stock, sauce, or soup for too long, they will become soggy and unappetizing.

The Vietnamese (squished) meatballs are just made with pork, garlic, sugar, fish sauce*, salt, pepper and scallions/green onions. Fish sauce is the key seasoning here, and the touch of sugar that makes the surface beautifully caramelised.

The meatballs are a pretty simple mix of ground chicken, garlic, ginger, and lots of black pepper. Roll this all together, then pan-fry the meatballs in a bit of olive oil to get them nice and crispy on the outside. At this point, add in the shallots, bell peppers, and peanuts.

They are usually made with a mix of ground beef and ground pork, or just with ground beef, which is mixed into a mixture of beaten eggs, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, and grated raw onions or finely chopped and fried onions. Cream is often added for more luxurious versions.

While pork is often favored in China, beef is often favored in central Asian countries and chicken in Asian countries where Hindu's preside (they cannot eat beef) or Muslims preside (they cannot eat pork). Pork, beef, and chicken are all popular in many South-East Asian countries.