Asian Meatballs with Plum Sauce

Sue Lau's Note:

Two-flavor meatballs with a delicious sweet-sour sauce that is to die for. Serve over rice or have as cocktail meatballs, whichever you prefer.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 36 meatballs

For the Meatballs

• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1 lb mild pork sausage
• 1 medium onion , minced
• ½ red bell pepper , minced
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 large egg , lightly beaten

For the Sauce

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup plum preserves
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 6 ounces pineapple juice
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Thoroughly mix together meatball ingredients and form into meatballs by the tbsp; brown on all sides and cook over medium-low heat until cooked through, 15-20 minutes; remove from heat.
2. Mix together sauce ingredients except cornstarch in a large pan big enough to hold sauce and meatballs (w/lid), cook over low heat until mixture is hot and simmering and mixed through.
3. Mix cornstarch with 5-6 tbsp water to form a slurry and whisk into sauce and stir until sauce is thickened and bubbly; fold meatballs into pan and mix sauce over them.
4. Top with lid and simmer 10-15 minutes over low heat.
5. Serve with hot steamed rice, if desired.

Reviews

[HeatherFeather]

Excellent! I found these to be full of rich flavor and very moist & tender. The sauce is very tangy - I might cut down the amount of vinegar next time for personal preference, however it was still wonderful as is. The ginger flavor really came through nicely and blended well with the other ingredients. The meatballs were very attractive with the tiny bits of red bell pepper flecks. Very easy to prepare. Note: I did have to brown my meatballs in two batches to fit them in without crowding, which added some extra cooking time.I made 48 small meatballs.

[SuzieQue]

My intention was to serve this over noodles - but these little things turned out so delicous, we just ate them with toothpicks! The sauce is sweet but also tangy. These are great!

[Kelly M.]

Good recipe. I think it would make a great appetizer, serve with toothpicks. I personally ate it over rice per the suggestion and it was good too. Easy to make, although finding plum preserves in my local stores was a little tough, but thats not the recipe's fault! I would make it again, and if I tried it over rice again I think I would add some asian veggies, such as water chestnuts, snow peas, etc. Good stuff.