Beef Balls

Chinese beef ball is originated by Teochew people, with a very interesting way of beating with pins (especially iron pins). There are two types of Teochew beef balls. One is made with pure beef meat and the other one is added with beef tallow and offals. I find something in balance.

The traditional way of making those balls give the best texture and flavor. However, it consumes so much energy, consequently quite impossible to use in home cooking. That’s the reason why this machine method is applied in today’s recipe. Within only 15 minutes, you can get lovely juicy and bouncy beef balls. In China, we cook the balls mainly in soups or rice noodles or in hot pot.

Ingredients: Sha Cha Sauce

Sha cha sauce (沙茶酱) is a combined sauce from ChaoZhou area in Guangdong, China. With a savory and a slightly spicy taste, it has been widely used in Fujian cusine, Teochew cuisine and Taiwan area.

My first meating with Sha Cha sauce is on a Teochew beef hot pot table. I love the taste of sha cha sauce with tender beef slices. After tried with different restaurants, I find that they have their unique Sha Cha sauce recipes and flavors. In general, Sha Cha sauce is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chilies, brill fish and dried shrimp. But different portions create slightly different flavors. I believe Szechuan style chili oil shares the same features. Returning home, I am always trying to find the best Sha cha product. Among all the brands, Bull head from Taiwan wins my heart and has been stored in my kitchen cabinet around the year.

Ingredients: Fried Garlic (蒜蓉酥)

I never know how just 1 or 2 tablespoons of fried garlic can influence the flavor until I tried this at home myself. I always feel the Teochew beef balls get unbelievable aroma. Half of the great flavor comes of fish sauce and sha cha sauce and the other half comes of fried garlic. Making it at home is super easy.

Ingredients:  tapioca flour

I introduced tapioca flour in how to make boba pearls at home. This starch is much stronger than cornstarch and thus can help to make the balls more denser and chewier.

Cook’s Note

One of the most important tip for dense beef ball texture is to keep the beef mixture in low temperature. So chill all of the tools and ingredients before starting.

For juicy and running texture, tallow or even pork fat is added in the beef mixture. If you want the balls to be more juicer, use minced beef with large amount of fat.

Instructions

Chill the blender and beef firstly. Prepare the ice cubes.

Place minced beef in blender, place sha cha sauce, fried garlic, salt, pepper, fish sauce. Blend for 15 seconds with pauses.

Then add  tapioca starch and 1/2 of the iced water. Continue blending for another 10 seconds. When the water is well absorbed, add the remaining half.

Continue blending for around 1 minutes until the mixture becomes fluffy in texture and light (turns into pink ) in color.

If you grasp the paste, it can sticky to form a whole paste, not running or breaking.

Shape the balls: prepare a large pot with enough warm water and a small cup of clear water for wetting the scoop. Grasp beef paste on left hand and hold a scoop with the right hand. Shape the paste to a ball with the help of left index finger and thumb. Dip the scoop into clean water and use scoop to transfer the fish ball to the warm water. Watch out and don’t let the water boils. Heat with slowest fire to keep the temperature.

See the lines wrapping around the balls.

When all the fish balls are done, turn up the fire to middle and cook the balls for 7-8 minutes. It can be served directly or packaged after cooled for later soups or hot pot.