Pan-Fried Meatballs

[zhemao]

This is my take on the Japanese dish menchi katsu (minced cutlet). It's basically meatballs which are battered, breaded, and then pan-fried.

Ingredients:

• Ground turkey


• Tofu


• Scallions


• Rice wine


• Soy sauce


• Dark soy sauce


• Sugar


• White pepper


• Garlic


• Ginger


• Corn starch


• Egg


• Panko (breadcrumbs)


• Vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Dump the ground meat into the mixing bowl.


2. Add a dash of rice wine and soy sauce.


3. Add a bit of dark soy sauce. This is mainly for color. You can omit it if you don't have it. I used Pearl River mushroom-flavored dark soy sauce.


4. Mix well and then let it marinate as you prepare the other ingredients.


5. Finely chop a clove of garlic.


6. Cut two or three slices of ginger and mince them.


7. Add the garlic and ginger to the meat.


8. Sprinkle in some white pepper and add a bit of sugar. Mix well.


9. Crumble half a block of tofu into the meat and then mix well. This helps make the meatball a bit softer and less dense. Silken tofu would probably be easiest to mix, but I like the texture you get from firm tofu.


10. Mix in a few handfuls of scallions.


11. Thoroughly beat an egg in a separate bowl and dilute it with a bit of water.


12. Prepare separate bowls of corn starch and breadcrumbs


13. Take a bit of ground meat in hand, roll it into a ball, and flatten it a bit.


14. Dredge the meatball in the starch, dip it in the egg, then roll it in breadcrumbs. At each stage, make sure the meatball gets thoroughly covered.


15. Continue rolling and breading meatballs until all the filling is used up. Make sure to replenish the corn starch and panko as needed.


16. Add a generous amount of oil to a pan and heat it up on medium high.


17. Check the heat by adding a breadcrumb. If it starts bubbling, the oil is hot enough. Turn the heat down to medium at this point.


18. Add the meatballs to the pan. Make sure not to overcrowd it. Cook in multiple batches if there's not enough space.


19. Once the bottom of each meatball has started to firm up, flatten it a bit by pressing it down with your spatula.


20. Once the bottom has browned a bit, flip each meatball over and cook on the other side.


21. Continue cooking, flipping occasionally, for about five minutes, or until both sides are a nice golden brown.


22. Cover a plate with a paper towel and place the meatballs on the paper to cool.


23. If you are making multiple batches, clean off the pan and use fresh oil each time.

This dish a bit involved, but well worth it. The outside of the meatball will be crispy, but the inside will be soft and bursting with flavor. They are definitely best fresh, but keep relatively well in the fridge. You can dip them in tonkatsu sauce or oyster sauce for some extra flavor.

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