“Nice food you can cook with minimal effort”
This dish was cooked last minute as an add-on side dish to my lesser-than-usual amount of dinner dishes this evening. Hence, I could only cooked with what I had in my refrigerator and things could be found in the kitchen pantry.
Nothing fanciful. It was just a very simple meat balls dish. To make it even easier, I air fried the meat balls instead of frying it on pan. Less oil and healthier, of course. Air frying these meat balls simply makes my job much quicker and simpler.
Taste wise? It was good, exceeding my original expectation though.
If you like it more, wrap cheese cube in the meat balls. Or, mix in carrots, water chestnut, prawn, chopped chili, or anything things you liked. But for now, stick with me. :)
Yields 15-18 balls
Ingredients
300g of minced pork meat
1 egg
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon of five spice powder
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of corn starch
1/2 cup of corn starch (for coating)
Method
(1) Combine minced pork meat with all seasonings and egg. Use a fork to mix them well.
(2) Use tablespoon to scope and shape into a ball. Lightly coat the meat ball with corn starch. Repeat step till all are done.
(3) Let coated meat balls rest and air dry for 15 minutes.
(4) Place meat balls on its non-stick grill pan or lined the basket with greased baking paper. Air fry at 200deg Celsius for 20 minutes. When halfway air-frying, open the air fryer, drizzle some oil on the half done meat balls and flip them over to continue air-fry till crisped and golden browned.
1 air-fried meat ball counts about 45kcal.
Tips: The purpose of lining the air-fryer basket with baking paper is to prevent sticking on the wire mesh. However, if the meat balls weren’t crisped due to the moist and juice accumulated on the baking paper, remove it halfway air-frying. Flip the wet side of the meat ball over to continue the process. May also extend the frying time to another 2-3 minutes more.
* If you do not have an air fryer, simply pan fry it, or deep fry, if you liked. Just watch your weight with the additional oil taken.
Susan October 5, 2015
I made these yesterday and they were easy to make. I was confused because the recipe called for corn starch and corn flour. In the steps, it doesn’t call for the corn flour. I also could not locate corn flour at the store so used corn meal to coat the meatballs. They were good. Although, I was surprised, I thought it would take on an Asian flavor but they really just taste like regular meatballs. I also didn’t use a lean pork so did not need to add oil half way.
PatriCa BB October 6, 2015
Hi Susan,
Thanks for trying this recipe, and also pointing out the possible confusion on the corn flour issue. I thought corn flour and cornstarch are the same, but just a different name in different countries. However, you are not wrong, too. Corn flour can be cornmeal, instead. I should have specified just one name to cornstarch which I have used in this recipe. I have made amendment to it.
As for more Asian flavor, you may try to increase the amount of the condiments used, especially oyster sauce and/ or five spice powder to make the meat balls a stronger flavor ones. I added only little to make the flavor more subtle. So, feel free to adjust the glamour to suit your liking.
Ying October 5, 2018
Hi Patrica, I just made this recipe and it came out wonderful :) I used minced chicken and added slightly more five spice powder. The taste of the meatballs reminded me of my late grandmother’s homemade ngoh hiang… Thank you for sharing a recipe that brought me back to my childhood!