Lip Smacking Sweet and Tangy Meatballs

This is a simple, hassle free, Chinese family favourite. It is perfect comfort food and great fun to make with friends and family.

Ingredients

For the Meatballs:

70g groundnut oil

70ml water

15g corn flour

500g pork mince

1 egg

15g finely grated ginger

2 table spoons Shaoxing cooking wine

5g Chinese five spice powder

1g finely ground black pepper

5g salt

3g sugar

  

For the Sauce:

150g tomato ketchup

20g black rice vinegar

50g sugar

2g salt

80ml water

15g corn flour

1 or 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic for garnishing

Preparation

1. Begin by preparing the meatballs. Dissolve 15g of corn flour in 70ml of water and thoroughly mix in the rest of the meatball ingredients except for the groundnut oil (which is used for frying the meatballs). Roll the mixture by hand in to balls of roughly 15g each.

2. Place the groundnut oil in a wok over a medium heat and fry the meatballs until they turn golden brown (a 15g meatball will take 5-6 minutes). Remove the meatballs and cover with kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil. 

3. Next, prepare the sauce. Mix together the tomato ketchup, black rice vinegar, salt and sugar with 60ml of water and simmer on a medium heat. Dissolve the corn flour in the remaining 20ml of water, add to the sauce and then bring to the boil for roughly 1 minute until reduced to a shiny, sticky consistency. 

4. Stir in the meatballs and heat through before serving with a sprinkling of finely chopped garlic.

Hong Shao Pork (Red Braised Pork)

Grandma's Hong Shao Pork with Chestnuts

I can’t think of a better place to begin a blog on traditional Chinese cooking than by taking a look at Hong Shao Pork, which is a popular, archetypal dish that you will find on every Chinese family’s dinner table.

Due to its domestic popularity (I was even taught at school that it was Mao’s favourite dish!), Hong Shao Pork is generally considered too “common” a dish to include on a fancy restaurant menu in China, which I think goes some way towards explaining its relatively low profile outside of China. This is such a shame as I have yet to introduce someone to the dish here in the UK who doesn’t absolutely love it.

In its most basic form, the dish consists of pork belly cubes (with the skin on) caramelised in a sweet, sticky sauce incorporating sugar, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, soy sauce, shaoxing cooking wine and, of course, love, love and more love!

Every family has their own version of the recipe which is usually a closely guarded secret passed down through the generations. Recipes I’ve sampled over the years have incorporated a wide range of extra ingredients like quails eggs, bamboo shoots, winter melon and citron lily flower.

There are also regional variations to the dish. For example, it is common for recipes in the Southern provinces to use dark soy sauce to bring about a deep, reddish colour whereas Northern provinces often use a higher ratio of sugar to soy sauce to bring about a light, orangey effect.

My personal favourite has to be my Grandma’s version (pictured above) made with chestnuts. They go perfectly with the sweet, sticky glaze and immediately bring back sweet memories of Chinese New Year celebrations in the living room of my Mum’s old flat and weekend visits to my Grandma’s house...SWEET, SWEET, SWEET…just like the dish!

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