Dining with the Chef!

Meatballs are a popular element of many cuisines around the world, and Japanese cooking is no exception.

Meat and seafood balls are served in various different ways.

Today, I'm going to show you two Japanese meatball dishes

that are fun to make with your kids and are ideal for casual get-togethers.

I hope you'll add them to your repertoire.

Tokyo, an Asian city with the largest metropolitan population in the world,

the boundaries between old Japan and futuristic Japan are blurred in this metropolis.

The food here is a fusion of cuisine not just from around Asia, but around the globe.

Our program host is culinary expert Rika Yukimasa.

And our co-host is Patrick Harlan, also known as Pakkun.

"Rika's Tokyo Cuisine."

Today, Japanese style Meatballs and a Shrimp Ball soup.

So, today we're making everyone's favorite meatballs.

Yes!

Did you do a lot of meatball dishes in America?

Well, we had spaghetti with meatballs pretty much,

you know, once a week at school, for example.

But here in Japan, it's actually a lot more.

There's a lot more variety.

Right.

There are a lot of kinds of meatballs dishes in Japan.

- When the meat or fish is kneaded and molded into specific shape, we call it, "Tsukune."
- "Tsukune." They're really good.

You can get them at convenience stores, even.

And then now, when we just mix it together and put it in a "Nabe" hotpot or some other soups, we call it, to "Tsumire."

"Tsumire," right.

And "Tsumire," we have in like "Oden" or Soup.

They're both great.

- I highly recommend them.
- Yes.

- So, today we're making what's called "Dango," right?
- Yes.

"Niku Dango."

You have "Tsukune," you have "Tsumire," and you have "Niku Dango."

- And these are great because they're easy to make and they go really well in "bentos."
- "Bento," yes.

They're perfect and super easy. Let's get started.

First off, Meatballs with Sweet and Sour Sauce.

Ginger is mixed into the meatballs, giving them a nice kick and an appetizing texture.

Adding ketchup gives the sweet and sour sauce a well-rounded flavor.

So, where shall we begin?

I thought it'd be a good idea to start by choosing ground meat.

- Ground meat!
- Yes!

So, I see we have three varieties, all very common. We use them a lot.

We have ground chicken here.
Ground beef, the red one in the middle. And then ground pork.

Their characteristics are very specific.

For example, "Tsukune" for a chicken, like "yakitori."

- It's drier and it's kind of less calories.
- Right

- It's healthy and light.
- Yes.

- Okay.
- And for beef, it's a rather dry.

- We use it for hamburgers, and also meat loafs.
- Right, right.

- In America, we use, you know, all beef patties for our hamburgers.
- Yeah.

- Lots of flavor.
- Right.

And then pork, which actually is one of my favorite.

It has more fat.

So, it's kind of fattier as well as juicy and has "Umami" flavor.

- But it doesn't have a really strong flavor, right?
- Exactly.

So, it's very versatile.

Like, many times we use for, like, Chinese dumplings or potstickers or usually used pork.

Ground pork is very common here.

I didn't realize that it was so popular until I came over.

Also very popular, "Aibiki."

- Yes.
- "Aibiki," it means a mixture of two ground meats.

My favorite is like ground beef seven portions and then ground pork three portions,

parts of combination is the best "Aibiki" for my hamburger recipe.

Hamburgers. Right. So, you get the good, beefy flavor,

but you also get the juiciness and fattiness from the pork.

I use "Aibiki" all the time.

Not only is it yummy and juicy.

- It's cheap.
- Right, right.

- It's much cheaper than pure ground beef.
- Yes.

So, today, are we going to mix or are we going to go with the pure ground meat?

Let's use this pork ground meat to make juicy meatballs.

So, here are the ingredients for the meatballs.

We have, of course, ground pork, onions, fresh ginger and egg.

And for toppings, dried red chili and asparagus.

The seasonings are: soy sauce, sake and ground garlic.

And we'll also use a little potato starch to coat the meatballs, and vegetable oil for deep-frying.

We will discuss the ingredients for the sauce later on.

- So, what do we do?
- Now, let's make the meatballs first.

- First, we will do, cut the onion.
- Right.

So, this is a half of onion.

First, you make slices.

Right.

- A sharp knife really helps with this process.
- Yes.

Why do we add onions to the ground meat?

- Well, onions add sweetness and it soften the balls.
- Ah.

- So, it's very important that if we only just mix with the eggs, egg and also ground meat, it's going to be hard.
- Right.

- So, you cut horizontally, then vertically.
- Yes.

- Then? Chop.
- You hold it together. And chop.

You can put it in the food processor.

But then it gets too, kind of like too fine.

- So, I would recommend that you to do this by hand.
- Okay.

So, I minced the onion like this.

- It's not have to be superfine.
- Okay.

Microwave the onions at 500 watts for 3 minutes.

This will remove any excess moisture and concentrate the sweetness.

Oh, wow.

Oh, great.

Let's open this.

- Those are good.
- Yeah.

And it's important that you don't want to throw this really hot onions into the bowl

because then the meat will start cooking, right?

You want to get rid of the heat.

Okay, cool down a little．

Okay. And in the meantime.

Let's cut this ginger.

For this ginger, you can add as much as you want.

If you want to double the ingredients amount, you can do so.

- I love ginger.
- Yeah.

Ginger makes a lot different if it just gives you the nice kick to the meatballs.

- And a little crunchiness, too.
- Yes.

Just a little.

If you don't have ginger, you can also add like, if you like spicy food, you can add cumin.

- Cumin seed.
- Cumin! Yeah!

- How about "Sansho" for a little?
- Ah, that would be perfect.

- But you can choose that cardamom and or whatever you have in the fridge. Okay.
- Beautiful.

Once you've assembled all the ingredients, beat an egg.

Add the ground pork, onions, ginger,

soy sauce, sake, and garlic and give it a quick mix.

Then, start kneading.

Kneading is really important.

When you knead it, for some reason, the meat becomes more sticky.

Yes, indeed.

- So, when you knead like this, you see, this one.
- Ohh.

- In Japanese we say, "Neba Neba."
- "Neba Neba." It's getting sticky.

- At least 100 times.
- Okay, great.

Kneading breaks down the fibers, so, work the meat until the pieces are fine and sticky.

They'll better absorb flavor while holding in their juices.

This will give you a juicy meatball, full of flavor.

Now we're ready to form the meatballs.

Great. I love this part.

- We can actually form them with hands, or using a spoon.
- Okay.

- This time I'll show you how to use a spoon.
- Okay.

And then make sure to have the potato starch or cornstarch ready.

Oh, okay.

So that, we're going to form them like this.

The purposes of forming the meatballs is to get rid of air.

Ah, the air inside.

- If you have an air pocket, it will sort of explode when you're cooking.
- Right.

All right.

So, you can make like this, and put it on top of this potato starch.

- Looks like fun.
- Yes. Let's do it.

- You can scoop with a spoon.
- Okay.

- It looks like you're taking about that much.
- Yes.

- Looks like a tablespoon size?
- Yes.

- This feels meat.
- Bit more than teaspoon.

But I don't need to pack it down?

- No, no.
- Okay.

Yes.

- Ooh, this is fun.
- Yes.

So, when you're making these, some people worry about like how warm the meat gets.

- Because they don't want the fat in the meat to melt, right?
- Right.

Do you worry about that at all?

- No, not so much.
- Okay.

- Sensei, you're much faster than me.
- Yeah, thank you.

I only made 5 of them and you made like, 8. Nice.

Once you've finished forming the meatballs, prep the asparagus that you'll be serving on the side.

Tap along the length of the asparagus with your knife, starting from the tough ends.

When you hit a soft spot, trim off the tough ends.

That's all the prep you need.

Heat the oil to 170 degrees Celsius.

You can also test the oil with a cooking chopstick.

When large bubbles start to form around the tip, you're ready.

- And then this is ready.
- Okay.

Once you fry the oil, it's kind of oil gets dirty.

- So, you want to fry the asparagus first.
- Ah, okay.

Because you're going to get little pieces of your meatballs in the oil. Okay.

Dust the asparagus with potato or corn starch to give it a crispy texture.

- What a great sound!
- Good!

- And you hear less sound, then it's ready.
- I see.

- Uh, perfect!
- Uh!

Gorgeous.

- Now we move on to this meatballs.
- Okay.

- So, you coat with this potato starch.
- Okay.

- And then final kind of forming.
- Shaping.

Into nice shape.

- Like this, and place this.
- Okay.

So, this is really the fun part.

The reason for coating with potato starch,

is you don't want to have the meat juice coming out from the meatballs.

- But by coating this, you are kind of protecting the meatballs.
- It makes sense.

And then about like 4 minutes - you fry them about 4 minutes.

4 minutes. Okay.

And you don't need to turn them aroud or anything, do you?

- No.
- Okay.

When you're frying anything, it's important that you don't touch them too much.

Even you are frying the fried chicken, you don't want to touch them too much.

Hmm, looks great.

- See, isn't it great?
- Beautiful!

Yeah!

So, it's time to make the sauce.

Here's what you need.

- Grain vinegar, sake, sugar, water, tomato ketchup, soy sauce and a mix of potato starch and water.
- Yes.

- You can use cornstarch if you need to, right?
- Uh-huh.

Okay. What do we do?

- We're going to just mixing everything.
- Okay.

- In a frying pan.
- Yes.

You can actually skip making sauce and just sprinkle salt and pepper and then eat.

But this sauce is really nice too.

- Okay.
- Yes.

Adding the vinegar you would have a kind of complex flavor.

- Uh-huh, it makes a little tangier, I suppose.
- Yes.

- And using ketchup in the sauce is very common here in Japan.
- Yes.

We like using ketchup.

Because it adds, in a way, tanginess.

And as well as sweetness.

- Sweetness and "Umami."
- Yes.

Just mix and warm it up.

And once warmed, you can...

- Add the potato starch in water.
- Yes.

Just little by little.

- Which will thicken it, right?
- Yes.

And you don't want to have too sticky sauce,

so, you add little by little and see how it goes.

Okay, this seems pretty good.

- And now we start plating.
- Great.

Placing meatballs, asparagus.

- Ooh, that's gorgeous.
- Yes.

And then, pour over this sauce.

- Brilliant.
- Yeah! It's beautiful.

Sprinkle with chopped dried red chili to complete the dish.

"Itadakimasu."

Oh, so good!

It's juicy and sweet.

- The onions in there, that little kick of ginger too.
- Thank you.

And the savoriness from the soy sauce and the ketchup,

which you cook down just a little to add that extra flavor and "Kaori,"

we say in Japanese, which is like a bouquet, is this, the aroma.

- It, it's actually a pretty complex flavor in the sauce too.
- Yes, yes.

Sweet and sour, the vinegar. You know, it's really good.

This sauce, I got it from Chinese cooking.

But this one also, I have different version.

This is sort of like "teriyaki" sauce version.

- Oh, more Japanese style.
- Yes.

So, once you learn how to cook this meatball, you can make the varieties with different sauces.

- Can I try that one?
- Yes.

Great. Woo.

- This has "Shiso" on top.
- Uh, huh.

Wonderful Japanesey touch. Gorgeous.

Oh. That's great!

- Definitely more Japanese sort of like "teriyaki" kind of flavor.
- Exactly, exactly.

It's the same with the...

I put sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, same amount.

- And then you place the meatballs together and simmer a bit.
- Okay.

So, you could have, I imagine like three or four different varieties.

- You could have a meatball party.
- Exactly.

Maybe have one just salt pepper too.

Because the meatballs itself are excellent. It's not just the sauce.

- It's perfect.
- Thank you.

The sauce is really easy to make.

So, you can enjoy making different flavors.

Now for a soup with celery and shrimp balls.

The delicately flavored soup goes well with the fluffy texture and sweetness of the shrimp balls.

The fragrant celery adds depth to the flavor of the soup.

- So, what's next?
- Now for soup with shrimp balls.

Shrimp balls. We've had meatballs.

- Let's make shrimp balls.
- Yes.

Great. So, here are the ingredients.

We have shrimp, celery, salt, potato starch, water, garlic, fresh ginger,

"usukuchi" soy sauce, lemon juice, instant "dashi" and sugar.

Yes. You may try to make some "katsuo dashi," or soup stock,

but I'm going to skip that process by using this "dashi" powder.

- "Dashi" powder, that's so easy.
- It's so useful.

- So, you should purchase a bottle.
- Right.

I'm psyched about having celery.

- That's one of my favorites.
- Yes.

Celery. You use it for like salad.

- But actually, it's really good for soup.
- Okay.

- So, the most important thing is you get rid of these strings.
- Intereting.

Because strings are quite hard. No matter how much you cook.

It's kind of hard to eat. So, that's the only trick.

And also, so many people just throw away these leaves.

- But I love eating these leaves because it's nutritious and it adds a really nice flavor.
- Sure!

So, you can just roll it.

- And cut it into thin slices.
- Nice.

So, it's kind of, when you are cutting into thin slices, you know it's easy to eat.

- So, this is, we'll add this in the end.
- Okay.

- And for the soup, I'm just going to cut into thin slices.
- Okay.

- And when you cut into thin slices, it adds really nice, tangy flavor of celery.
- Okay.

- This I eat.
- Ahh. It's the chef's privilege.

Next, cut the ginger and garlic into thin threads.

Aromatics like these will add depth to the soup.

So, the key to the prepping this dish is risen cleaning the shrimps.

You want to get rid of the odors by cleaning the shrimp.

- Just adding this much salt.
- Okay.

- And then, kind of giving massage.
- Right.

- The salt is used to clean the fish or clean the shrimps or like sometimes I marinate with the fish, remember?
- Right.

So, fish kind of like brining it helps to get rid of the odors.

After massaging the shrimp with salt, rinse well, and you're all set to mince them.

- You can actually put into the food processor.
- Okay.

Then you have to clean the food processor.

So, I instead just cut this with big knife.

It doesn't take that long.

You can actually cut your shrimp in less time than it takes to find your food processor and get it all set up.

You'll be done in a minute.

- Don't worry.
- Yes. It's very easy to do.

So, if you have a big knife, just one big knife.

- This process gets really easy.
- Sure.

When it's cut it enough, then you can just cutting into fine pieces. Like this.

So, meatballs made of fish are common thing in Japan? I've never had them in America.

- But you can probably do the same trick with like "Iwashi," sardines?
- Exactly!

- Anything else?
- Or scallops.

Oh, scallops!

- Or squid.
- Right!

- Okay. You see, it's beautiful "Surimi."
- Ah.

- It's mashed.
- Great.

Once you've finished the prep, fill a pot with water,

add the garlic, ginger, celery, granulated "dashi,"

soy sauce, lemon juice, and sugar,

then bring to a boil over high heat.

- So, let's make little shrimp balls.
- Okay.

- It's the same idea as when we make meatballs?
- Yes.

- Okay.
- Add a little bit of a cornstarch or potato starch.

We add it now. Not at the end.

- Interesting.
- Exactly.

The potato or corn starch binds the shrimp.

Mix until the starch is fully incorporated.

Remember to mix thoroughly.

- This time, it's almost like, I'm doing "Tsumire" version.
- Right. Very close.

So, you don't need to form.

- You just kind of drop.
- Right, right, right.

- And then since I cut them into very small pieces, it's easy to cook.
- Uh-huh.

Very fast.

After adding the shrimp, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about a minute and a half.

- It's looking great.
- Yes.

- And in the end, you want to turn off the heat.
- Okay.

And add the celery leaves.

And cook with the residual heat.

- The color also just work.
- Yeah.

- Okay.
- Another beautiful bowl.

- So, it's a soup without any oil.
- Uh-huh.

It's good when you are on diet.

It's done.

"Itadakimasu."

It's so beautiful.

The pink shrimp, the green celery, and light-yellow soup.

Try the shrimp at first.

- Oh, it's wonderful.
- Thank you.

- It's firm and springy, like spongy.
- Right, right.

It's almost like eating a fresh shrimp.

The firmness is actually from a cornstarch or potato starch.

- Really?
- Yes.

- Is that what does it?
- Yes.

- Oh and the flavor is so good.
- Thank you.

In the soup, it's a very light color soup.

It's got a really nice deep body.

Like, you think of celery as like, um, sort of a little, uh, bitter.

Like, it has that sort of green flavor.

But cooked in a soup, it's more hearty, more savory. Great.

- So, what did you think of meatball and shrimp ball dishes?
- They're great.

You use basically the same technique.

But it changes a little bit where you add the potato starch, and whether you're frying or adding it to soup.

But the technique is super easy. And you should try it too.

It's super easy and all of them are really delicious. Give it a shot at home.

What did you think of today's recipes?

Meatballs are often adapted to suit local ingredients and styles,

and now you know how to give them an Asian twist.

They're pretty simple to prepare, so I hope you give them a try.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Thank you for watching.

And see you next time!

Let's review today's recipes.

First, the meatballs with sweet and sour sauce.

Mince the onion, microwave, and set aside to cool.

Add to the ground pork along with the crunchy and fragrant ginger and other seasonings,

and knead the mixture about 100 times, until sticky.

Form the meatballs so there are no air pockets, dust with potato starch, and deep-fry for about 4 minutes.

Drizzle with the sauce thickened with a mixture of potato starch and water, and it's done.

Now for the fragrant shrimp ball soup with celery.

Slice the vegetables.

Massage the shrimp with salt to remove the fishy smell, rinse, and mince.

Add the potato starch and salt and mix well.

Use a spoon to form into bite-size pieces and drop into the soup.

Cook for about a minute and a half, and you are ready.

Have a ball making these dishes with your family!

They are fun and delicious !