Japanese Tapas Recipe: Meatballs

Meatballs are one of those comfort foods that go exceptionally well with beer and wine.
Here’s a slight twist on the traditional meatball recipe.

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Tapas Recipe: Japanese Meatballs

• Serves:    2 as a drinking snack, 1 as a meal
• Preparation time:    5 minutes
• Equipment:    a sharp Japanese knife and a cast iron pan
• Cooking time:    30 minutes

Ingredients

• 200g pork mince
• 2 heaped tbsn chopped garlic
• 2 heaped tbsn chopped onion
• 1 heaped tbsn chopped pancetta (Italian bacon)
• 1 heaped tbsn potato flour
• 1 egg yolk
• passata – tomato simmering sauce found in the pasta isle
• salt
• ichimi togarashi
• Wakame or nori seaweed seasoning

Into the oven it goes

Method

Pre heat oven to 220 degrees C

To make the balls

Add pork, potato flour, half the diced onion, egg yolk, salt to taste and ichimi to a bowl and mix well. Roll into 5-6 tight balls and set aside.

To make the sauce

Heat the bottom half of the Oigen tapas pan over a medium heat. Add garlic, the other half of the onion, pancetta and salt to taste and cooked until lightly browned. Add passata half way up the pan and turn off heat. Place meatballs in pan and roll around until coated in sauce.

Place pan in oven and cook until meatballs are cooked (about 20 minutes).

Sprinkle with nori flakes and serve.

Japanese meatballs with nori, Kirin beer and Kewpie style mayo

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Chef’s tips

• Serve with some homemade Kewpie mayonnaise
• If you don’t eat pork you can substitute with veal or chicken mince
• Add cheese and grill on the top element for a few minutes if you like gratin

Snack time