I knew nothing of these meatballs but fell in love with the idea of them based on the photo that illustrated the original recipe linked below. They just looked as though they would taste delicious. That being said, I didn't want to deep fry my meatballs, I wanted them juicy and crusted but not with the crisp, deep crust that cornstarch gives, I didn't want to add shucked oysters to the pork and I had no Chinese chili paste. So I did some adapting, as usual.
For the meatballs:
1 lb ground pork
1 egg white
1 tsp grated ginger
salt to taste
For the sauce:
1⁄4 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 Tbsp dry white wine
2 Tbsp honey
2 tsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
1 tsp hot sauce (I used a coriander Sriratcha)
Mix the meatball ingredients together in a bowl. Form into 8 meatballs. Because of the egg white the meat will be sticky and you will have a hard time forming perfect spherical meatballs; I opted for slightly freestyle ones so as not to overwork the meat. This made for very juicy but not so attractive meatballs.
Add one Tbsp of oil to a frying pan and, as soon as the oil is sizzling add the meatballs, making sure not to crowd the pan. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes and then flip the meatballs and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
While the meatballs are cooking, measure out the sauce ingredients into a bowl. Whisk together and taste, you may want to adjust the sweet or sour or spicy more to your taste.
Lower the heat under the meatballs, pour off as much of the oil as you can and then pour the sauce over them. Cook the meatballs for an additional 5-7 minutes until they are cooked through, basting them with the sauce so that they take on its flavors.
This is a recipe for 2 people, as opposed to my usual 4.
Original recipe here.