Asian Meatballs in Black Bean and Garlic Sauce w/ Sesame Noodles

Whew that's a mouthful. These are two seperate recipes from two different sites. I was craving meatballs so badly, I haven't had them in forever. But I was also craving asian food. And then I found that recipe, and I had been meaning to try Pioneer Woman's Simple Sesame Noodles and blablabla here we are. I made them at the same time but I'll seperate the recipes and pictures.

Up first, Sesame Noodles! Now before I start, I want to make it clear that sesame oil is not a thing to be trifled with. It can be a very strong flavor. In fact, I used a small amount in a delicious dish I used to make for Sean, Matt and Garret when we would hang out sometimes, and it could be a little over powering at half a teaspoon. So when I saw this dish contained 2-3 TABLESPOONS of it, I was worried. However, once everything was added to the sauce, the flavor mellowed considerably and while it was still there (seeing as they are SESAME noodles), it was very enjoyable. So don't be afraid. Sesame oil is your friend.

Anyway, here's what you'll need!

Thin spaghetti or some other asian noodle, soy sauce, sugar, canola oil, rice vinegar, sesame oil, hot chili oil (I didn't have any so I subbed in some sriracha. I think it was better that way.) and I added some snow peas and carrots to mine to try and sneak in some vegetables. Oh and a whole bunch of garlic. Four cloves!

Add all your ingredients to a bowl and whisk together. I just stuck mine in the bowl I planned to put the noodles in, but pouring it on top would have helped the garlic mix with the noodles a bit easier, I'd think.

Then you boil your noodles, and add your veggies to the water for the last 2 minutes of cooking time. I wasn't timing my pasta right and am hopelessly disorganized in life and the kitchen so I put mine in a minute or two early and they were pretty cooked. Still good though.

Then you drain it all and add it to the bowl.

Mix it up! Tongs work good.

Ooh look at all that deliciousness.

Garlic, have I ever told you how much I love you? <3

See, wasn't that easy? Simple Sesame Noodles! Now the only thing missing would be sesame seeds but I think there's plenty of sesame in there.

Simple Sesame Noodles (original by Pioneer Woman aka Ree)

• 12 ounces, fluid Thin Noodles, Cooked And Drained
• ¼ cups Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons Pure Sesame Oil
• ½ teaspoons Hot Chili Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Hot Water
• 4 whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin

Whisk all ingredients (except noodles and green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed.
Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with green onions and toss.
Serve in a bowl with chopsticks. Yummy!
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Alright, now on to the main show. DEM BEEFBAWS. I mean meatballs.

Now, first you'll nee-

Down in front, Mister Bear.

Look, I know you love the camera, but you have to let the other ingredients be in the shot too, okay?

That's better. You'll need ground pork (or whatever meat, I used ground turkey), an egg, 3 cloves of garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, fresh ginger, onion powder (or an onion), soy sauce, panko bread crumbs, salt and pepper. For the black bean and garlic sauce, you'll need honey, black bean and garlic sauce (duh), soy sauce, ginger and a little cornstarch.

What AM I going to do with you, Mister Bear? Pardon him, everyone, he's such an attention whore.

Add all your meatball ingredients to a bowl. I grated my ginger using a microplane zester/grater because I really dislike the chunks of ginger you can bite into when you mince it. I vastly prefer the gingery paste that you get from the microplane.

And mix it up good.

I did my meatball mixture a bit earlier and stuck it in the fridge so all the flavors could get to know eachother while I did prep for the other parts of dinner. But you don't have to. I'm all over the place when I cook so every time saver I can do helps.

Then you form them into little 1 to 1/2 inch beefbaws! I mean meatballs, sorry. I want dat meatball. By the way, the meat smells soooo good, even raw. That's a lot of flavor in there.

Aren't they cute?

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then put some oil in a skillet and brown those suckers on all sides. Or as many sides as you can. Don't stress it too much. I do enough stressing for all of us.

Stick the done ones on a baking sheet. When you're done browning them all, put the pan in the oven for about 15 minutes or a little more to cook them through. Adjust baking time as necessary if you make your meatballs bigger.

While that's going on, make your sauce. Add your soy sauce, ginger and cornstarch to a bowl. I used about 1/2 tsp of ginger and 1 tsp cornstarch. Mix it up with a fork.

Then add your black bean garlic sauce and honey.

Mister Bear, I can see through your head. You might want to see a doctor.

Dump almost all the grease out of your pan, leaving a teensy bit to keep things moving and all the brown bits.

Then dump your sauce mixture in there and bring to a bubble over medium heat. Stir occasionally. When meatballs are done, dump them in.

Meatballs are done! That one missing from the end was my test to see if they were done. And holy cow did they have a lot of flavor. Really great.

Now, after putting everything together, Sean and I came to the conclusion that we would have prefered the meatballs without the sauce. The sauce was good but it was kind of salty. And with a small coating on the meatballs it was fine, but.. It was a bit much. They were so good on their own. I'll definitely make them again, just not the sauce. But you might love it, so give it a try.

Asian Meatballs in Black Bean and Garlic Sauce (original recipe from Vanilla Sugar blog)
Meatballs:

• ¾ pound ground pork
• 1/4 cup grated white onion
• 1 egg
• 3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 2 ts fresh ginger, grated
• 1/4 ts salt
• 1/8 ts black pepper
• ½ ts red chili pepper flakes
• 2 ts soy sauce
• ½ cup (or so) panko breadcrumbs
• Chopped scallions or chives, for garnish

Garlic-honey black bean sauce:

• 2 TB (or so) honey
• 4 TB (or so) black bean garlic sauce
• 4 – 5 TB (or so) of bottled soy/ginger sauce (I got this from whole foods, if you cannot find, create your own w/ a mixture of soy sauce with grated ginger and pinch of cornstarch)
• Dash of pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine meatballs ingredients in a bowl, mix well and form 1 to 1-1/2 inch meatballs. In a large fry pan heat up some canola oil and fry the pork meatballs. Get them nice and brown on all sides then transfer to a preheated 400 degree oven and finish cooking off. About 15 minutes. Drain off the oil from the large skillet, leave a bit of oil in there along with any bits from bottom of pan. In a bowl combine all the ingredients for the black bean sauce, mix well, then transfer to back to the reheated large skillet and stir. Get the sauce nice and bubbly then add back in the meatballs. Coat the meatballs well in the sauce.
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It was a really tasty meal.

I enjoyed the leftovers for days.

I hope you give them a try!