Chinese inspired meatballs

I could not "not post" a Chinese inspired recipe. I was fortunate enough to spend about 3 weeks out there and to attend an afternoon cooking lesson. It was interesting seeing what their staple cooking station looks like. As you'd imagine, they rely on woks a lot. The main seasoning ingredients lined up beside the wok were salt, sugar, corn flour, chicken stock, oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine and toasted sesame oil. Quite a change from our vinegar and olive oil!
A friend suggested earlier I should post a Chinese recipe but with the lovely weather outside (rain and 10°C), I felt more like a Western dish. After thinking for a while, I decided to make a Chinese inspired broth/soup with veggies, meatballs and some rice on the side. You could easily served this dish with boiled noodles. I didn't have any so I had rice. Clearly a warming up dish for the winter we are having in the middle of the summer!

Ingredients:

For the meatballs (makes about 20 meatballs):
- a pound of minced beef
- 1cm piece of ginger chopped
- 1 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of black bean sauce
- pepper
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs (no need to buy breadcrumbs, just put your stale white bread into a food processor)

For the veggies:
- 1 tsp of chilli paste
- 2 cloves of garlic, thinly chopped
- 1 cm piece of ginger thinly chopped
- 1 celery stick cut into thin cubes
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin batons
- 1 small courgette, cut into thin batons
- 1 bunch of sugar snap peas
- 3 spring onions cut into 2 cm pieces
- a pint of stock
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- 2 to 3 tbsp of vegetable oil

Some boiled or steamed rice/noodles.

Procedure:

1. Prepare the meatballs: mix the meat, ginger, soy sauce, black bean sauce, pepper, sesame oil, egg and breadcrumbs. Shape into meatballs and leave aside for about 30 min.

 Once rested:


2. Start cooking your rice or noodles.
3. In a wok or large and high frying pan, heat up about 1 tbsp of oil on medium to high heat. Brown the meatballs. Remove the meatballs and set aside.
4. Add the rest of the vegetable oil, about 1 to 2 tbsp. Add the chilli paste, garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the celery and carrots, stir fry for about 4 min.
5. Then, add the courgettes, stir fry for 2 min. Add the stock and the soy sauce. Bring to the boil. Add the meatballs. Reduce the heat, put a lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes.
6. Remove the lid, add the sugar snap peas, cook for another 2 minutes.
7. Serve sprinkled with the spring onions.

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