HOW TO COOK BA-WAN (TAIWANESE MEATBALLS)

How to Cook Ba-wan (Taiwanese Meatballs) -here is another Asian dish that you will surely love, the Ba-wan or what we call Taiwanese meatballs. This is not your ordinary meatballs because it consists of different flours and has bamboo shoots. As we know, bamboo is a native grass of many countries in Asia especially in the South-East part. Taiwan is one of those countries (if I am not wrong) so they have this great way of cooking dish with bamboo shoot. Cooking Ba-wan with bamboo shoot has two objectives; to serve as extenders and also to give unique taste to your meatballs. In this recipe, I am also giving you the procedure how to make a very delicious sauce for your meatballs. This is also great for your ordinary meatballs. So here is how to cook Ba-wan (Taiwanese Meatballs): 

INGREDIENTS

For the sauce (Hai Shian Jiang)

2 teaspoon hot chili sauce

4 tablespoon sugar (I preferred brown)

6 tablespoon Hoisin sauce

8 tablespoon banana ketchup

¾ cup of flour

1 cup of water

For the wrapper

3 cups potato starch

2 ½ cups cornstarch

2 cups rice flour

13 cups water

For the filling

2 pounds pork tenderloin (ground)

16 pieces Shiitake mushrooms (cooked)

6 tablespoons shallots (fried)

3 cups bamboo shoots (chopped and cooked for 30 minutes)

10 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

½ cup five-spice powder

2 teaspoon sugar

4 tablespoon fresh cilantro (chopped)

½ cup water

2 teaspoon cornstarch

COOKING PROCEDURE

1. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce and mix well until uniformed in texture.

2. Transfer the sauce mixture in a saucepan and bring to a boil while stirring. When thickened, remove from heat, let rest and set aside.

3. For the filling, heat oil in a pan. Stir-fry shallots for half a minute.

4. Add pork and stir-fry until the meat is almost cooked.

5. Add the bamboo shoots and mushroom then stir. Add the remaining ingredients for the filling (except for water and cornstarch) then cook for one minute.

6. Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl then pour in to the fillings.

7. Stir for a minute then remove from heat. Set aside.

8. For the rice flour wrapper, combine rice flour and thirteen cups of water. Whisk together until uniformed in texture with no lumps.

9. Pour in a pot and bring to a boil until thickens like a paste. Remove from heat and set aside.

10. In a bowl, combine sweet potato starch and cornstarch. Combine this mixture and the rice starch mixture and whisk well until uniformed in texture. Let rest for 20 minutes.

11. Prepare heat proof bowls with oil to avoid the dough from sticking to it. We need more or less twenty small bowls.  

12. In an oiled bowl, scoop 1 spoon of wrapper dough and spread it from the bottom of the bowl up to its lid thinly.

13. Add two spoons of fillings then top with another spoon of dough to cover it. Make sure it covers the fillings.

14. Repeat the process for all the bowls.

15. Put the bowls in a large steamer and steam for 20 minutes.

16. Remove from heat and let rest for 20 minutes.

17. When serving, invert the bowls onto the serving saucer to remove the Ba-wan from the bowl without damaging it, serve with sauce.

HOW TO COOK BA-WAN (TAIWANESE MEATBALLS)