Steamed Pork Meatballs with Dried Squid
Hakka-style meatballs scented with fennel seeds to mellow any gamey notes and lift the aroma, and bound with tapioca starch to absorb excess oil for a cleaner bite. The result is savory and fragrant—rich yet refreshing, and never greasy.
Ingredients
Skin-on pork shoulder (sliced into 0.2 cm thin pieces)
1500 g
Fennel seeds (ground into powder)
25 g
White pepper (ground into powder)
2 g
Dried squid (soaked in Shaoxing Huadiao wine until soft, diced to soybean size, then slowly fried in oil until fragrant and set aside)
200 g
Refined salt
45 g
MSG
15 g
Tapioca starch (dry powder)
350 g
Chopped scallions
5 g
Instructions
1
Prepare the dried squid
Soak the dried squid in Shaoxing Huadiao wine until soft, then dice it to the size of soybeans. Slowly fry in oil until fragrant and set aside.
2
Slice and marinate the pork
Slice the skin-on pork shoulder into 0.2 cm thin pieces. Add the ground fennel and ground white pepper, mix well, and marinate briefly.
3
Mix and season
Add the refined salt, MSG, and the fried dried squid pieces, and mix until evenly combined.
4
Shape into balls
Sprinkle with the dry tapioca starch and use your hands to gather several slices of meat into ping-pong ball-sized meatballs.
5
Steam
Place in a steamer over high heat and steam for 10 minutes. Remove, sprinkle with chopped scallions, and serve.
