Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I am so determined not to just look at the photos in my cookbooks. So I made an effort to cook another recipe from it. Sweet and Sour Meatballs. Easy peasy, right?

Right. Which was why I didn't pay attention while referring to the recipe. I thought it was odd that the meatball recipe did not include onions. I always add onions. How could it taste good without onions, I scoffed.

I proceeded to mix the meatballs and instead of deep frying, I put then in the oven. When I returned to the cookbook to refer to the sauce ingredients, alamak!

The onions, along with water chestnuts, chopped carrots and coriander leaves were in ingredients B for the meatballs. See, that's what happens when you don't pay attention. You think you are so expert in making meatballs. Haiz.....

It was too late. 

So I paid close attention when making the sauce. Everything turned out well and though lacking in onions, the meatballs tasted fine.

One thing I learnt from the cookbook was forming meatballs by grabbing a bit of mixture and squeezing it out from between your thumb and index finger. Pretty much like how fishballs are formed.

I wasn't very good at it but found that it is useful in getting equal portions. I had to reshape the meatballs to make them round. 

Next time, I'll be sure to buy some water chestnuts to add to the meatballs. And of course, I won't forget onions.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Recipe source : Adapted from Daily Meals Made Simple (page 117)

Ingredients :

Meatballs - Ingredients A

- 400g minced meat

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp pepper

- 1 tsp Huatiao wine

- 1 egg

- 1/2 tsp sesame oil

- 2 tbsp cornflour

Meatballs - Ingredients B (which I totally left our arrghhh!!!So I just agak-agak the proportion here)

- 3 water chestnuts (chopped)

- 1 big onion (a small one)

- 1/2 a small carrot (chopped)

- 1 tbsp coriander leaves (chopped)

- 1 tbsp cornflour

Sauce ingredients :

- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup

- 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce

- 1 tbsp plum sauce

- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

- 1 tsp Huatiao wine

- 1 tbsp light soya sauce

- 100ml water

Garnishing :

- 1/2 each yellow, green and red peppers, cubed

- 1 big onion, cubed

Thickener :

- 1/2 tbsp tapioca flour

- 2 tbsp water

Method :

1. To make the meatballs, mix ingredients A together

2. Then add ingredients B. Mix until well combined and mixture is gluey and comes together.

3. To form the meatballs, grab an amount of mixture in your hand and squeeze it out between your thumb and index finger. Scoop the meatball with a spoon and place on a baking tray. (If you want to deep fry the meatballs, coat each meatball with plain flour before dropping it into the hot oil).

4. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes.

5. When the meatballs are done, make the sauce.

6. Heat oil in wok and saute the onions until translucent.

7. Add peppers and stir fry briefly and then add sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil and add the thickener.

8. Add meatballs and stir to coat.