Asian Meatballs: no fish included

Addictively good!

Have you grown weary of Italian meatballs? These tasty Asian meatballs are based on ground pork. There’s no fish (or even fish sauce) in them. Rather, they are a blend of flavors that are easily created and eaten even quicker. They go well with white rice, however you want your rice, or fried noodles.

What you’ll need:

• 1 lb. medium-lean ground pork
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• Shiitake mushrooms to taste (reconstituted, finely chopped, with tough stems removed)
• 1 egg
• 1/3-cup panko
• 1/3-cup milk (not skim)
• 2T oil, sesame oil, if possible
• 2T Korean BBQ sauce

Some sliced green onions make a perfect garnish.

What to do:

1. Pre-heat oven to 450-475 degrees
2. Reconstitute and sauté the mushrooms,
3. Sauté the onions until translucent,
4. Add the garlic to the onions while sautéing. Make sure they don’t burn, as opinions take a lot more heat than garlic,
5. Let these three ingredients cool to room temperature.
6. In a container for a stick blender, add onions, chopped mushrooms, garlic 1T oil and 2T Korean BBQ sauce and puree. Try not to leave any chunks of mushroom.
7. In a separate bowl, add the panko, then the milk. Mix until milk has mostly been absorbed by the panko.
8. Add the ground pork, 1T of oil, and egg, then mix everything together with your hands until thoroughly combined.
9. Now it’s time to add the mushroom/BBQ sauce purée. Again, mix the purée with your hands until everything is well blended.
10. Shape into balls and cook in a glass bakery pan that’s been rubbed with a little oil to prevent sticking
11. Cook for 15-20 minutes.

This is as close as I can get before the deliciousness puts them out of focus.