Chinese Fried Meatballs ( Bakwan Goreng )

Another food that reminds me of my childhood , especially around holiday , my Grandma’s house would be full of people , everyone was in charged either to bring something or to cook something . One of my uncle , my grandma’s youngest son in law at the time , would be in charged to make Ca Yen , it is deep fried chinese meatballs . In the US , when you think of meatballs , it’s mostly meatballs and spaghetti . But these meatballs are made from pork and shrimp , with eggs , tapioca and cornstarch , soy sauce and fish sauce .

It is a messy business with anything deep fried , not to mention it’s not the healthiest , although if you own a air fryer , this might work . I’ve done it in air fryer ( before it broke ) it wasn’t as messy and yet it was still delicious without all the oil !

The ingredients are pretty easy to find , the only thing you need to get from specialty store is Fish sauce , make sure to use a good brand of fish sauce .

Ingredients :

• 1 lb of ground pork
• 1 lb of shrimp , peeled and deveined
• 3 tsp of fish sauce
• 3 tbsp tapioca flour
• 4 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 large eggs
• pinch of sugar
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• oil to deep fry

Directions :

• Heat up oil to 350 F , deep enough to submerge these meatballs
• In a large food processor , throw in the shrimp , turn it on until the shrimp becomes very smooth . Add the ground pork and pulse until it’s mixed well .
• Add beaten eggs , and the rest of the ingredients . Turn the food processor until everything is well mix and smooth .
• Take about -2 tsp size of ball , and drop it carefully into the hot oil , deep fry these balls about 20 minutes on low heat ( to guarantee the crunchiness , sometimes i don’t have that much patience or time , i usually just fry them twice , 5 minutes first on low medium heat then take it out to cool , fry again higher heat for another 5 minutes ) . If you do fry them for 25-30 minutes your meatballs will stay round and puffy and crunchy , otherwise , it will start deflating once you take it out , not as crunchy but still delicious .