Vietnamese Meatballs

We made a delicious meal of these, Chinese eggrolls, Thai corn fritters, and nuoc cham dipping sauce. I found variations of this recipe on the web, but adjusted the amounts for the best flavor. These can also be grilled. UPDATE: I can't vouch for it being authentically Vietnamese, though the recipes I combined to make this were labeled that way. Also, I don't think fish sauce is a particularly Korean ingredient. I'd change the name to Asian Meatballs but that would mess up the URL.
- Ready In:
- 22mins
- Yields:
- Units:
Nutrition Information
9
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ingredients
- 1 1⁄2 lbs ground beef or 1 1/2 lbs pork
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
directions
- Combine all ingredients until well blended.
- Make 1" meatballs.
- Put them on wooden skewers (about 4 per skewer--you kind of have to mold them on to the skewer).
- Broil (or grill) until thoroughly cooked.
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RECIPE MADE WITH LOVE BY
@Marla Swoffer
Contributor
@Marla Swoffer
Contributor
"We made a delicious meal of these, Chinese eggrolls, Thai corn fritters, and nuoc cham dipping sauce. I found variations of this recipe on the web, but adjusted the amounts for the best flavor. These can also be grilled. UPDATE: I can't vouch for it being authentically Vietnamese, though the recipes I combined to make this were labeled that way. Also, I don't think fish sauce is a particularly Korean ingredient. I'd change the name to Asian Meatballs but that would mess up the URL."
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These are quite tasty, but as a previous reviewer pointed out, they're not really Vietnamese, as pork is the common meat for such a dish in Vietnam. These are more similar to Korean-style meatballs. In fact, I even posted a recipe for Korean meatballs on this site a long while back that's similar to this one (though it also included a dipping sauce).
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Hmm, I have never come across nem (meatballs) made from beef growing up as a Vietnamese American in the largest expat Vietnamese community worldwide (five cities in "The O.C." in southern Cali), or when I spent over half a year traveling throughout Vietnam recently either. As far as I know, meat nem is traditionally only made from pork. The closest thing we have to a beef nem would be Bò Lá Lót, where beef is wrapped in betel leaves and grilled. :)
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These were really nice meatballs. For personal preference I'd probably spice them up a little more next time. I made for Freezer Tag 2008 and ate a handful for lunch fresh, then froze a couple of serves in zip loc bags. Today I got one of the bags out of the freezer on the way to work and popped them in the work fridge to defrost. They were defrosted by lunch time and 2 mins on medium in the microwave made them just nice and hot. I served with Thai sweet chilli sauce. Would be great to have a stock in the fridge for last minute lunches or appetizers for unexpected guests.
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