Recipe: Almond Meatballs in a Sweet Ginger Sauce

This week's recipe is courtesy of cookbook author Laura Kelley. Laura has generously provided Chopstick Cinema and ThingsAsian with a recipe for Mongolian Almond Meatballs in a Sweet Ginger Sauce from Volume Three of her series The Silk Road Gourmet.

Meatballs

¾ pound ground lamb or beef
1 small bunch of cilantro leaves, chopped (15-20 sprigs)
4 hot, dried, red chili peppers
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup ground almonds
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons ground black pepper
2 corms of star anise, ground
3 tablespoons peanut or sesame oil

Stir Fry

½ head bok choy cabbage or 2-3 bunches of baby bok, shredded
3 tablespoons peanut or sesame oil
6 spring onions, sliced finely crosswise
2 teaspoons garlic, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon grated ginger
¼ cup almonds, sliced
¼ cup beef broth
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar

1. In a food processor, chop the cilantro and the chili peppers until well mixed. Then add the meat, egg, almonds, salt, pepper, and the ground anise and mix well. Form the mixture into meatballs about 1 to 1½ in diameter. If the mixture is a little too soft and the meatballs don't hold their shape well, refrigerate about ½ hour before rolling meatballs. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and sauté the meatballs until lightly browned. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok or sauté pan and when it just starts to smoke add the spring onions and sauté 2-3 minutes until they start to soften and color. Add garlic and ginger and stir fry another 2-3 minutes until garlic starts to swell and color as well. Add almonds and beef broth and mix well, scraping the sides of the wok as you do.

3. Add soy sauce, salt, pepper and sugar and mix well. Add the bok choy or baby bok, cover and cook until the vegetable wilts. Stir well, add the meat balls and turn them into the stir fry. Cover and cook to warm the meat - for just a minute or two and serve. Alternatively, one can serve it more Chinese style and carefully arrange the meatballs on a plate over the stir fry. As a variation, this can also be prepared as a soup with the addition of more broth and separately boiled noodles.