Asian Glazed Meatballs

Be honest, how good are you with chopsticks?
World Champ, pretty good, alright or a total disaster?
I myself wouldn’t say I'm an expert at using them, nor I would win any prize for artistic impression, but I’m okay at getting food into my mouth at a honest pace.
Sometimes I get impatient though, and just stab the food with the chopsticks (sashimi anyone?), or if I am eating noodles I just twirl it around.
But I’m not as bad as some of my friends, who cannot pick up a thing with them, and when they do, they always end up flinging the food over the other side of the table.
Except for Fred, he is kinda awesome at using chopsticks, but he has lived in Hong Kong for 3 years and has really stepped up his chopstick skills while he was there.

Chopsticks are definitely not a feat of incredible dexterity, but if you have grown-up using fork and knife, the transition is not an easy one.
Take my friend Soh Young for instance, she’s originally from Korea and she’s a chopstick legend.
She gracefully use chopsticks as if they are an extension of her limbs.
She not only uses them for eating, she has carried them over into everyday kitchen use, and cooks just about everything with them — trust me, I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
She even taught me a couple of chopsticks tricks: such as tamping down your rice if you're having trouble eating it. If it's pressed together, it sticks so you can get chunks instead of single grains.
Another trick is to hold the chopsticks slightly apart like a shovel and pick up the food that way (this is especially true with rice.)

Anyways, I’m not the right person to give out chopsticks etiquette advice. I’m just a regular Joe that kinda gets by with chopsticks so I do not starve when I’m eating at Asian restaurants.
But what I can tell you is that these Asian Glazed Meatballs are so good that it doesn’t really matters whether you eat them with chopsticks, with a fork or with your hands.
Actually, now that I’m thinking about, eating them with your hands is definitely the way to go — provided that you don’t care about getting your fingers all sticky.
They come together pretty quickly and they are bursting with yummy flavor.
Serve with a vegetable stir-fry for a light and easy dinner. They can be a great party food or appetizer too.
You can’t go wrong with these juicy meatballs!

Asian Glazed Meatballs                                                                                  Print this recipe!

Ingredients
Serves 4

Meatballs

1 lb / 453 gr organic ground pork
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ cup / 1.7 oz / 48 gr almond meal (or gluten-free breadcrumbs)
½ teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 free-range organic egg, lightly beaten

Sauce

½ cup / 125 ml rice vinegar
¼ cup / 60 ml wheat-free soy sauce (or coconut aminos)
1 tablespoon Sriracha (make your own Sriracha with this recipe)
2 tablespoons honey
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder*
1 tablespoon olive oil

*arrowroot powder acts like cornstarch

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F (180°C) and place a rack in the middle. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine ground pork, olive oil, almond meal, ginger, garlic and beaten egg. Mix well.
With dampened hands form into meatballs and place onto the baking sheet.
Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes, until cooked through.
In the meantime, in a small bowl combine all sauce ingredients. Pour in a large skillet and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat and set aside.
When the meatballs are finished cooking, stir them into the sauce until well coated.
Serve hot!

Nutrition facts

One serving yields 348 calories, 25 grams of fat, 10 grams of carbs and 22 grams of protein.