Pork, two ways.

I've been meaning to do this for a while now - make my own Asian pork meatballs. You know the ones you find at Asian grocers, the ones that you eat with your instant ramen/noodles? Well, this is my first time making them. I haven't eaten them in a very long time. They just seem so expensive for such a small quantity, so I haven't bought any. (I just longed for them. Haha..)


Well, they worked out pretty good. They were bouncy and all, but.. they weren't all that flavoursome. It needed something extra. More salt perhaps? Pork stock? Or some other spice? Or.. some prawn perhaps! And then it'll be like the 'har gow' filling! Mmm..

I didn't use all of the lump of pork, so I tried making char siu pork with the rest. I plan on, well, I hope to make charsiu pau (charsiu pork buns).

This was kinda my first time playing with meat. I've been watching 'Gourmet' (a Korean drama), and with watching MasterChef as well, I decided that I wanted to play with meat as well! Haha. I quite like marinating and slicing meat. There's just something about holding a knife.. :)

Asian pork meatballs
Makes about 37 meatballs

500gm pork meat, diced
2 1/2 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp fish sauce

extra, pepper and salt to taste
ice cubes and extra water

In a food processor, mince the pork meat with 1/4 cup of water. You should get a smooth paste. Add more of the water if needed, but leave some for the seasoning.


In a bowl, mix fish sauce, water (1/4 cup, or what's left), oil, salt, pepper, sugar, cornflour and baking powder.
Combine the seasoning mix with the mince in the one bowl.
Cover and freeze for 1hr.

In a large bowl, fill with water and ice.

Fill a large pot with water, about 1/2 full and boil.
Scoop small balls of mince into the pot. (They will sink to the bottom. The larger the meatballs, the longer they take to cook)
When the meatballs start floating to the top, they are nearly cooked through. Leave for about 1-2mins when they float to the top.
Remove one from the pot and into the ice water. Check the middle to see if it's cooked. It should no longer be pink, but grey throughout.
If not, pop it back into the pot to continue cooking.
Drain and freeze if not serving.


Charsiu pork

1kg pork meat

Marinade:
6 tbsp sugar
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Glaze:
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp light soy sauce
red food colouring


Combine sugar, soy sauce, salt and garlic. Rub into pork pieces until all of the sugar has dissolved. Cover and refrigerate overnight.


Preheat oven to 200C.
Mix honey with soy sauce and food colouring.
Line a baking tray/dish with aluminium foil. Brush both sides of the pork pieces.
Place pieces of marinated pork on the tray and bake each side of the pork for 15mins each.
Brush with honey soy when you flip over.
Turn oven down to 175C.
Brush with honey soy and bake for another 25mins.
Flip, brush with honey soy and bake for another 25 mins.
Check if the pork is cooked. Timing will depend on the size of the pork pieces.
Remove from oven.