Bakso Sapi ( Indonesian Meatballs )

When i was younger , we used to live in a street where a lot of street vendor would pass by and making noises so that all the neighbourhood would be aware of them , well they’re trying to sell their product , right ? Those street vendors include people who sells meatball ( bakso ) , also people who sell chicken satay ( sate ayam ) , rujak ( fruit salad with peanut sauce ) , angsle and ronde ( rice balls with peanut fillings and ginger syrup ) . You will never be hungry if you live in Indonesia .. these men were always out there on the street selling food .

So one of them was bakso sapi , i haven’t had these meatballs ever since i moved to US , almost 12 years ago . I liked them , but it’s not like i couldn’t live without it . I guess i was really never cared about having it or not . Until the other day , we went shopping at H Mart , and my son saw this lady , cooking meatballs , of course they’re trying to lure you to try it and hoping you would buy the product . My son tried the meatballs , the one made from beef , though they had others made from cuttlefish and lobster also . My son loved it !!I thought .. that wasn’t really fair for him , i’ve had these kind of food when i was younger and why wouldn’t i try making them , so that he can have a taste of it too ?

So there goes the story .. i decided to try to make bakso sapi , how hard can a meatball be anyway ? It shouldn’t be too hard i thought .. i’ve made italian meatballs all the time , chinese meatballs .. it’s time to try to make indonesian meatballs .You don’t want them to be hard , you want them to be springy , bouncy some people describe it that way , in order to get that kind of meatballs , make sure you let your meatballs dough sit overnight or at least 6 hours in the fridge . BUT , if you’ve been thawing your meat in the fridge from the freezer , i don’t think it’s necessary to let it chill for 6 hours again in the fridge . So if i were you , i would thaw our my meat from the freezer , in the fridge overnight , and by the time you grind and mix your meat , it will be all cold still .

You need :

2 lbs of ground lean beef , i used extra lean 96% lean ground beef .

2 tbsp. of tapioca starch

2 tsp. of sugar

4 tsp. of salt

1 tsp. pepper

2 -3 garlic cloves

8 tbsp. of ice cold water

In a food processor , grind the meat with the sugar , salt , pepper and the garlic too . Grind until the meat looks like paste , unless you like the meat with texture , you can pulse it until you reach the texture you like . Usually indonesian meatballs are very smooth looking , mine wasn’t really perfectly smooth , but it’s smooth enough for me . Then while the food processor is still running add the ice cold water , keep pulsing until it’s blended well and smooth . Chill at least 6 hours , or if it’s cold enough , just start bring water to boil , not rolling boil , but just started to boil ,drop your meatballs into the pot , cook for about 10 minutes , don’t let the water boil too hard or your meatballs will crack .Once it’s done take the balls out of the pot , drop into the pot filled with cold water .

To serve : Make about 4 cups of water , add 2 chicken bouillon cube , and add salt pepper to your taste , add lots of chopped green onion . Add your meatballs , serve hot in a bowl .

This picture below , the meatballs are served with vermicelli rice noodles . Just boil the noodles according to the direction and serve the meatballs with it .