Course Brunch, Light lunch, Side dish, Starter/Entrée
Cuisine Asian
Cook 30min
Serves 6 people
Easy meals, Easy to share, Gourmet
1 cup Suwandel Sticky Rice
15 g Shiitake mushrooms, dried
750 g Pork mince
1 tbsp Ginger, finely grated
3 Garlic cloves, crushed
3 Green onions, finely chopped
1½ tbsps Light soy sauce
1½ tbsps Oyster sauce
½ tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 tbsps Cornflours
2 tsps Sesame oil
½ tsp Ground white pepper
6-8 Large outer wombok leaves
1 Oil spray
2 tbsps Black rice vinegar
2 tbsps Soy sauce
1½ tsp Sesame oil
1½ tsp Sugar
1 Small red chilli, seeded and sliced
METHOD
1 Place rice in a large bowl and cover with a generous amount of water. Allow to soak for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Drain and place on a plate.
2 Place shiitake mushrooms in a heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Drain and remove any hard stems. Finely chop mushrooms and place in a large bowl, along with the pork mince, ginger, garlic, green onions, soy sauce, oyster sauce, five spice powder, cornflour, sesame oil and white pepper. Mix with your hands until well combined. Line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Roll a heaped tablespoon (30g) of mixture into a ball shape and place on one of the trays. Repeat with remaining mixture.
3 Roll each ball into the rice, gently pressing in the rice to adhere to pork mixture. Place onto second lined tray.
4 Preheat oven to 500C or lowest temperature. Prick the wombok leaves all over with a fork (this will allow for the steam to permeate). Line base of a large bamboo steamer with half the wombok leaves in a single layer. Lightly spray with oil. Place half the balls, 2cm apart, in the steamer. Partially fill a large wok with water – ensuring that the base of the steamer will not touch the water. Bring water to the to the boil. Place the lid on the steamer and place over the water. Steam over a high heat for 15-20 minute or until balls are cooked through and rice is translucent (see tip). Check water level toward the end of cooking time, to ensure the wok doesn’t dry out.
5 Line a baking dish with baking paper. Gently transfer cooked balls and cabbage to prepared baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and keep warm in oven while steaming remaining balls over remaining cabbage leaves. Check to see there is sufficient water in the wok.
6 Meanwhile make dipping sauce. Combine black rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and chilli in a bowl and pour into a dipping bowl.
7 Serve pork pearl balls with dipping sauce.
