eat my meaty balls

look at the cheese oozing from the meatballs... ooh la la!

a lot of meatball recipes abound in the internet. some use ground pork. some use ground beef. and yet some use both. some add onions. and some onions with tomatoes. some add carrots in addition to onions. some use cornstarch. some tapioca starch. and yet some use potato starch. some cassava starch. some use breadcrumbs to go with all those starches. my yaya used to add onions to her ground pork and some singkamas diced into microscopic thingies.

this is my version of meatballs.

in a large mixing bowl, mix 1/4 kilo of ground pork and 1/4 kilo of ground beef. season it with salt and pepper. set aside.

next, i prepare my breadcrumb mixture.

heat saucepan. add a tablespoon of olive oil on low heat. then add about 1/4 cup of butter. still in low heat, wait for the butter to melt and then add around 4 tablespoons of crushed garlic. simmer the garlic in the olive oil-butter mixture. before the garlic turns into brown, mix in a cup of kasugai breadcrumbs. stir continuously. then add the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of msg (optional). stir. don’t let the breadcrumb garlic mixture to stick to the bottom of the saucepan or burn. finally, add the 1/4 cup of freshly grated (in an almost powdery form) parmigiano-reggiano or some of that grated parmesan cheese in those round plastic bottles. stir continuously with a spoon until breadcrumbs turn slightly into a brownish hue.

(ingredients for the breadcrumb mixture: 1 cup kasugai breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup of salted butter, 4 tablespoons of crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of msg (optional) and 1/4 teaspoon of fine iodized salt.)

let the breadcrumb mixture cool before mixing it into the large bowl with the now seasoned ground pork and beef. knead until breadcrumb mixture is fully assimilated into the meat. make sure to whisk in some of your sweat into the mixture while kneading the way panaderos does theirs while kneading bread shirtless. it will add to that salty and unique taste that we are after. hahaha!

add an egg to to the meat and breadcrumb mixture and knead through and true until there is no trace of that gooey and slimey egg.

from this end on, you can now make your meatballs. just take a lump of meat and simply slap it back and forth from your left palm to the right palm until a ball is formed.

at this point, you can also try adding those quickmelt cheeses into the core of your meatballs. you can do this by grating your quickmelt cheese. taking a lump of meat, flatten it and make a ball (the size of a 5 -8cm diameter ball of which the size really depends on the size of your meatballs) of the grated cheese between your thumb and your pointing finger like the way you make a ball of your… then place the cheese in the center of that flattened lump of meat.

you now have your meatballs. you can deep fry it or you can fry it in a wok with about half a cup of cooking oil. before frying it, however, make sure that the wok and the oil is heated. fry the meatballs in low heat. don’t let the meatballs stick to the bottom of the wok so try moving the wok every now and then without using a spatula. don’t overcook. once the meatballs are brown all over then you can place it in a plate with a paper towel so as to drain the oil from the meatballs.

if you plan to use the meatballs with the spaghetti sauce or as a standalone dish or pulutan, try it with the quickmelt cheese. however, if you plan to use the meatballs with a sweet and sour sauce or the misua soup with meatballs, try it without the quickmelt cheese. ,/FONT>

try making a huge meatball with cheese inside.

enjoy!