About this recipe
Springy beef meatballs in a clear broth, served with noodles and greens and finished by the diner with sambal, kecap manis and vinegar. The texture of the meatball is the whole craft: very cold meat, tapioca starch and hard beating produce a bouncy ball quite unlike a Western meatball.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 6 servings, about 30 meatballs
- Prep
- 35 minutes
- Cook
- 45 minutes
- Total
- 80 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Spice
- Mild (heat at the table)
Allergens Contains beef, wheat (noodles, kecap manis) and egg. Not gluten-free.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The meatballs
- 1.5 lb (680 g) beef topside or chuck, very cold, cut into cubes
- 4 oz (115 g) ice cubes or ice-cold water
- 3/4 cup (100 g) tapioca starch
- 4 cloves garlic, finely grated
- 1 tbsp (18 g) salt
- 1 tsp (2 g) ground white pepper
- 1 tsp (5 g) baking powder
- 1 egg white
The broth
- 2 lb (900 g) beef bones
- 3 qt (2.8 L) water
- 6 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
- 1 tsp (2 g) ground white pepper
- 2 tsp (12 g) salt, or to taste
- 3 tbsp (15 g) crisp fried shallots, plus more to serve
To serve
- 10 oz (280 g) fresh yellow egg noodles, cooked
- 5 oz (140 g) rice vermicelli, soaked and drained
- 4 oz (115 g) choy sum or bok choy, blanched
- 6 oz (170 g) fried tofu puffs, halved (optional)
- 2 scallions, sliced
- Sambal, kecap manis and white vinegar, at the table
Equipment
- Food processor
- Large saucepan
- Slotted spoon
- Stockpot for the broth
Method
- Simmer the beef bones in the water with the crushed garlic for 45 minutes, skimming. Strain, then season with white pepper and salt. Keep hot.
- Process the very cold beef with the ice in a food processor until it becomes a smooth, sticky, pale paste, 2–3 minutes, scraping down twice.
- Add the tapioca starch, grated garlic, salt, white pepper, baking powder and egg white. Process 1 minute more until glossy and elastic.
- Bring a large saucepan of water to a bare simmer — not a boil.
- With wet hands or two spoons, form the mixture into balls about 1.25 in (3 cm) and drop them straight into the water. Work in batches so the pan is not crowded.
- Poach 8–10 minutes. The balls sink at first and float when cooked. Lift out with a slotted spoon.
- Divide the egg noodles, rice vermicelli, blanched choy sum and tofu puffs between six bowls. Add five meatballs to each.
- Ladle over the hot broth. Scatter with scallions and fried shallots.
- Serve with sambal, kecap manis and vinegar so each diner adjusts their own bowl.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Bakso (Meatball Soup) sits in the Indonesia chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Indonesia chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.