Wednesday, September 7, 2011
ONE dish that I can remember for as long as I can is made of ground meat (pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, turkey and the like) and some garlic, onions, carrots, jicama, green onions, mushrooms, eggs, cornstarch or flour with salt and pepper to taste.
A very versatile recipe that can also be made into meat loaf, embotido, burger patty, lumpia shanghai filling, siopao filling and others, with a few variations in the ingredients.
This particular recipe is the very popular and well-admired bola-bola (meatball). And I can surely say that everyone had their share of this delightful and appetizing menu in one way or the other, now or while growing up.
Being of Chinese heritage, misua with bola bola have, is and will always be a part of our cuisine. Everyone in the family get their share of this hearty soup upon waking up in the morning of their natal day. I always have my share of this wonderful home-made soup during my birthday, prepared early in the morning by my ever doting and caring mom. This warm or hot soup is very satisfying on an empty stomach in the morning and with much love poured into making this, my mom would also add boiled eggs, lots of bola bola and sprinkle it with chopped green onions or fragrant fried shallots and a few drops of sesame oil. Very oriental indeed!
These meat balls can also be fried and thus becomes another dish. They can also be steamed and added to other dishes like spaghetti with meatballs, pancit guisado with bola bola, stir-fried vegetables with bola bola, sweet and sour meatballs, and the list could go on and on.
Since bola bola (from the Tagalog or Visayan word) means ball, it is of course shaped into small round forms. And I would say since this this round, this is said to bring good luck, as everyone would believe.
In Philippine cuisine, we also have Almondigas Soup. Very similar to the misua soup I grew up with.
There is also another particular recipe and version called Almondigas and is made with tomato sauce in the “soup.” Other countries like China, Spain, Sweden, Greece and Germany would also have their share of meatball in their native cuisine.
In the US and maybe other countries, they would make use of just meat (typically beef), with some spices to heighten up the flavors of the meatballs. But I would probably say that it wouldn’t be “acceptable” (in some ways) to the Pinoy palate since we like our meat balls with some chopped or shredded veggies (like carrots, onions, garlic and jicama). Besides, we also like it a bit sweet, right?
I remember a classmate of mind who is now working in the United States as a nurse and the story he shared with me regarding his “experiment” with his spaghetti with meatballs recipe. US have a lot of ready-to-use spaghetti sauces and meatballs (usually frozen or canned) in the supermarket. Because everyone is busy and has no time to cook, they would normally heat up “prepared sauces, meats and even dishes” in the microwave, oven or stove and eat it as it is.
Because he doesn’t really cook, my classmate just heated up the bottled Italian style spaghetti sauce in a pan and added the frozen meatballs. Well, it didn’t come out to his liking that he had to throw it away. What a shame. I am sure he was expecting a “Pinoy” kind of Spaghetti. Wouldn’t it be nice if we know how to cook some basic Pinoy food especially if we live in a foreign country?
Below is a simple, yet easy to do recipe for bola-bola. Feel free to experiment and modify to your liking.
½ kilo meat
½ cup onions, chopped
½ cup carrots, shredded
¼ cup jicama
2 pcs eggs
1/4 cup cornstarch or flour
Sugar, salt and pepper to taste
Soy sauce (if desired)
Oil, for frying
½ cup onions, chopped
½ cup carrots, shredded
¼ cup jicama
2 pcs eggs
1/4 cup cornstarch or flour
Sugar, salt and pepper to taste
Soy sauce (if desired)
Oil, for frying
Mix all ingredients well. Form into desired round sizes (using a small ice cream scooper will give you almost uniformed sizes and weight).
Deep fry till golden brown. Serve hot with catsup, sweet and sour sauce, sweet chili sauce or any sauce preferred.
Enjoy it as it is, over rice or any way you like it, it’s your choice!
(Website: www.potsnpans1976.weebly.com; email: potsnpans1976@yahoo.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on September 08, 2011.
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