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This is a strange and fascinating recipe that I had to try. Don't think of it as chinese, it's definitely an all-American sweet-and-sour dish. When it's done right, it does make excellent leftovers.

I had to try this a few times, mostly because this was my first attempt at making meatballs. The poorly-formed oversized lumps of meat I pressed together for my first batch were kind of undercooked. Not good. I really had to try again and apply the lessons learned before I thought I could do a fair write-up.

Original Recipe: 1 1/2 # hamburger
2/3 cup cracker crumbs
1/2 cup minced onions
1 tblsp veg. oil
2 tbls cornstarch
3/4 cup drained pine juice
1 can (13 1/2 oz.) pine chunks
1 1/2 tblsp. soy sauce Mix hamburger, cracker crumbs, onion, egg, salt, ginger, and milk together. Form into one inch meatballs and brown in 1tbls. veg oil. Simmer until meatballs are cooked through. Remove from pan.
Mix cornstarch and sugar together, then add vinegar, water, soy sauce, and pine juice. Stir until smooth. Pour into skillet and cook over med heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Boil one minute.
Add meatballs, pine chunks, and chopped green pepper. Heat through.
May be served over rice. Can be prepared the night before and heated when ready to serve. What worked: What I figured out:

What I changed:

Posted by Sean Blakey at 9:23 PM Labels: meatballs

