Pearl Meatballs

Sticky on the Outside, Fresh on the Inside

Pearl meatballs, steamed to perfection. With a bright outer layer of white sticky rice, this dish looks as good as it tastes.

How is Cantonese Pearl Meatballs different?

Pearl meatballs is a very common dish, found in many places throughout China. Although still called by the same name, the cooking method for pearl meatballs in Guangdong is radically different than elsewhere in China. Cantonese prefer fresh tasting foods, so common fillings include shrimp, water chestnut, or pork. In contrast to the typical cooking procedure, not a drop of water is added while beating the filling. This maintains the filling’s tenderness, and creates a satisfyingly fresh meatball with a soft and sticky rice wrapping.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (100 grams) sticky rice
7 ounces (200 grams) picnic ham
1 ounce (30 grams) water chestnut
1 ounce (30 grams) prawn
1 egg
1 lotus leaf

Seasonings

3/4 cup (200 milliliters) sesame oil
3 teaspoons (15 milliliters) cooking wine
3 teaspoons (15 milliliters) soy sauce
1 teaspoon (5 grams) salt
1 ½ teaspoons (5 grams) green onion
1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) ginger
1 ⅔ teaspoons (3 grams) pepper
a small amount of Chinese wolfberry

Please see measurements in grams to be more exact for all ingredients and seasonings.

Cooking Directions

Preparations

Wash the sticky rice, and soak in water for 8 hours, changing out the water every 2 hours. Allow to drip dry and spread across a pan.

Tips: You must soak the sticky rice in advance to allow it to reach its maximum moisture content. This will keep it from drying out in the steamer.

Clean the picnic ham, remove the fat, and mash. Peel and wash the water chestnut, then chop into small pieces. Shell the prawn, wash, and chop into small pieces. Wash the wolfberries. Wash the green onions (leaving the white sections) and chop. Wash and peel the ginger, then break down into a fine powder. Separate and beat the egg white. Wash the lotus leaf, and soak in water until soft.

How to make tender meatball filling

Mix the prawn and water chestnut into the picnic ham mash, then add salt, soy sauce, egg white, pepper, cooking wine, sesame oil, green onions, and ginger. Mix steadily in a constant direction. From a height of 3/4 inch, throw the filling mixture against the side of a bowl. Repeat until the mixture achieves a thick consistency.

Put it all together

Soak a hand in water and grab a small amount of the filling mixture, forming it into a ball. Place the ball into the sticky rice pan, and roll it around until it has an even outer coating of rice.

Place the meatballs onto the lotus leaf inside the steamer, keeping some space in between each ball. Place a wolfberry on each meatball.

Put water into the steamer, and bring to a boil. Steam the meatballs for approximately 30 minutes, until the rice has some transparency. Once finished cooking, sprinkle the meatballs with sesame oil.