Pearl Meatballs

“Pearl meatballs” are a traditional and famous dish that originated from Mianyang County (now known as Xiantao), Hubei. They are named after the shape of the meatball, because when the meatballs are steamed, the glutinous rice looks translucent and bright, just like a pearl.

What you will need:

Main ingredients:

350g pork, 1/3 bowl glutinous rice

Seasonings:

1 teaspoon cooking wine, 1/2 teaspoon pepper powder,1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon chicken extract, 1 teaspoon light soy sauce, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 4 slices ginger

How to make it:

1. Wash the glutinous rice and place it in a bowl with enough water to cover it. Allow it to soak overnight.

2. At the same time, finely chop the pork and place the meat in a bowl.

3. Addfinely chopped ginger, cooking wine, pepper, salt,sugar, chicken extract, light soy sauce, and sesame oil into the bowl.

4. Stir to make sure everything is evenly mixed, whipping in only ONE direction until the filling becomes fluffy and sticky. Then, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator. Allow the filling to marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

5. On the next day, take out the glutinous rice and drain it.Do the best you can to shake off any excess water.

6. Take out the marinatedfilling, and form 20g balls.

7. Roll the balls in the glutinous rice so that thewhole surface is coated.

8. Put the meatballs in the steamer and steam them for 20 minutes at high heat.

9. Take them out and put them on a plate. Then we are done.

Tips:

1. Using light soy sauce is highly recommended because it doesn’t add extra color to thefilling or the glutinous rice. On the other hand, using other types of soy sauce, dark soy sauce, for example, will create a gloomy color, making the dish less worthy of the name of “pearls.”

2. Using pork with about 30% fat and 70% lean meat will give the ground meat a smooth texture.

珍珠圓子是湖北沔陽（今仙桃市）的著名小吃。因圓子蒸熟后，外面粘的整粒糯米發光油亮，形似珍珠而得名。

食材：

主料：豬肉 350g；糯米適量，約1/3碗即可

調料：料酒1茶匙；胡椒粉1/2茶匙；鹽1茶匙；糖1/2茶匙；雞精1/2茶匙；生抽1茶匙；芝麻香油2茶匙；姜4片

步驟：

1.將糯米洗凈裝入碗中，并倒入清水使之浸泡在水中。

2.將豬肉剁碎后裝入大碗。

3.將切成末的姜，料酒，胡椒粉，鹽，糖，雞精，生抽，芝麻香油加入裝豬肉餡的碗中。

4.順著同一方向攪拌直至肉餡發粘后包上保鮮膜放入冰箱。

5.第二天，將泡好的糯米撈出，瀝干水分。

6.取出腌制好的肉餡，每次取20g左右捏成肉圓。

7.將肉圓放入糯米中滾動，使圓子外層均勻的粘上一層糯米。

8.將蒸鍋鋪上一層油紙后再將做好的圓子放入其中，蒸15至20分鐘即可。

9.將圓子取出再裝盤，珍珠圓子就大功告成了。

小貼士：

1.一定要選用生抽，這樣才能使圓子色澤漂亮，符合珍珠之名。使用老抽會使圓子外層糯米顏色加深。

2.建議選取三分肥七分瘦的豬肉，這樣的肉餡口感才更為順滑。