Thit vien sot ca chua gives soft, juicy meatballs in a thick red sauce, exactly right over plain rice on an ordinary evening. The difficulty is that the meatballs crumble if the mixture does not bind properly.
Ground pork is mixed with gio song along with finely chopped wood ear and shiitake, then steamed for 8 minutes rather than fried, which keeps the meatballs moist.
This batch weighs about 1.5kg, at roughly 116 calories per 100g.
Method
Put 450g ground pork and 150g gio song in a large bowl. Soak 10g wood ear and shiitake mushroom until soft, rinse them, chop them finely and mix them in.
Season with 1.5 teaspoons seasoning powder, 1/2 teaspoon MSG, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 teaspoon ground pepper and 1 tablespoon cooking oil, work the mixture together and leave it 15 minutes.
Finely chop 3 shallots along with the spring onion whites and cilantro roots, and mix some of them into the meat for fragrance.
Peel 450g tomato and cut it into small dice so the sauce thickens quickly and smoothly.
Rub a little oil onto your hands and roll the meat into evenly sized balls.
Steam the meatballs on baking paper or a deep plate over medium low heat for about 8 minutes, keeping about 100ml of the liquid that collects.
Heat 3 tablespoons cooking oil, fry the shallot with the spring onion whites and cilantro roots until fragrant, then add the tomato and cook over medium low heat.
Season with 2.5 tablespoons tomato sauce, 1 tablespoon ketchup, 1 tablespoon chili sauce, 2.5 tablespoons fish sauce, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 100ml of the steaming liquid, stir well and bring to a gentle boil.
Add the meatballs, cover and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, turning them now and then so they take on the sauce.
For a thicker sauce, drizzle in 1 tablespoon tapioca starch mixed with 2 tablespoons water, stir well and cook another 2 minutes.
Scatter over spring onion and cilantro, toss quickly, turn off the heat and add a final pinch of ground pepper.
Tips
Pork shoulder with a little fat, mixed with fresh pork paste (gio song), binds the meatballs so they stay soft and juicy rather than crumbling.
Steaming rather than frying keeps the meatballs moist.
Soak the wood ear and shiitake mushrooms and chop them very fine, as coarse pieces make the meatballs fall apart in the steamer.
Small diced tomato breaks down into a smooth sauce quickly, with no blender needed.
Drizzle the tapioca starch slurry in slowly while stirring, since adding it all at once leaves lumps.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.