Mmmmm... Meatballs

Trying to find meals that my entire family enjoys has become a weekly stressor.  One of my go-to weekly meals were meatballs in a tomato-based, sweet sauce which everyone but one of my kids liked.  I started to experiment and made a crossover of their favourite dishes - Mongolian beef ramen noodles and those meatballs - and the Mongolian meatball was born.  I can never make enough and the bowl is always licked clean by everyone.  I serve the meatballs with steamed rice and some veggies but try them over top of ramen noodles, serve them up on toothpicks or just dig into a big bowl of them.  

Side note to those living in Toronto: when I’m tight for time I prepare the meatballs without sauce, pour London and Langtree (L&L) sauce over top and let thicken to glaze.  Finger licking good!

For the meatballs

1 lb ground beef

1 egg

2 Tbsp breadcrumbs

For the Mongolian sauce

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp chicken stock or water (reserve the 2 Tbsp for cornstarch mixture)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger, minced

2 Tbsp cornstarch

In a small bowl, add 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp chicken stock and mix well.  Add remaining sauce ingredients to bowl, mix well and set aside.  

In a medium bowl mix ground beef, egg and breadcrumb.  Season with salt and pepper.  Form meat mixture into balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  

Heat Oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add meatballs being careful not to crowd the pan.  Cooking in two batches may be necessary.  

Let meatballs sit without moving the pan for 1-2 minutes (pick one up after a minute and see if it is browned on one side, if not continue to cook another minute being careful not to burn).  Flip meatballs and cook on next side.  Once browned on other side move the meatballs around the pan until there is no longer any pink on outsides of meatballs.  Remove meatballs from pan to papertowel-lined plate.  Prepare second batch if necessary. 

Wipe pan clean and return to cooktop over medium-high heat.  Add sauce mixture, bring to a boil and cook until thickened.  Reduce heat to simmer and return meatballs to pan.  Simmer in sauce for 1 minute until meatballs are glazed.  It’s time to serve these puppies up!

Note to my Torontonian peeps:  

Tight for time?  Use London and Langtree prepared sauce (Aka L&L sauce) found in most gourmet food stores. Once meatballs are prepared add back to pan pour sauce over and cook 2 minutes.