Pork meatballs are deep fried, then coated in flavoursome sauce. By just changing the sauce, you will get quite different meatball dishes – one with sweet and sour sauce, one with sweet soy sauce like teriyaki sauce. Both are really tasty.
I saw Nagi’s post, Oven Baked Italian Meatballs few weeks ago, where she talked about posting a meatball recipe every month. This inspired me to post the Japanese Meatball recipe as I am sure Nagi does not know how to make it.
Japanese meatballs are called niku-dango (肉団子) which is a direct translation of meat (niku, 肉) ball (dango, 団子). The meat can be beef, pork, chicken, even fish. But in the case of chicken meatballs, Japanese usually call them tsukune (つくね). Fish meatballs are often called tsumire (つみれ). You can read more about tsukune and tsumire in my post, Tsukune (Japanese Chicken Meatballs).
Since beef was introduced to Japan much later than other meats, the dishes using beef meatballs tend to be used in the Western style dishes such as stews, pasta, soups. But unlike beef, pork meatballs can be flavoured with very authentic Japanese sauce as well as used in the Western style.
In Japan, you will find more recipes using pork meatballs than beef meatballs. Perhaps because of this, people tend to assume that nikudango uses pork mince (ground pork).
My pork meatballs are deep fried. It is a bit of an effort to do deep frying and I know some people avoid it as much as they can. But I find that it can make near perfect round balls more easily by frying than sautéing or grilling. If you use a small pot, you don’t have to use a lot of oil to fry either.
To make near perfect round meatballs all the same size, I used a measuring tablespoon to take a consistent amount of meat mixture and placed each of them on a cutting board, then rolled the meat into balls. See the meatballs are similar sizes.
Pork meatballs are often served in sweet and sour sauce called amazu-an (甘酢あん or 甘酢餡). Amazu (甘酢) means sweet vinegar and an (あん or 餡) means thick sauce in this context.
You might recall the amazu dressing recipe in my post, Japanese Dressings. Amazu dressing is a clear, sweet vinegar consisting of just rice vinegar and sugar with a dash of salt. But when you make amazu-an, soy sauce is added to give a salty flavour, and cornflour to thicken.
Amazu-an is similar to the Chinese sweet and sour sauce, but the flavour is not as complex and the sauce is not oily.
Meatballs with amazu-an (sweet and sour sauce).
Japanese people love sweet soy sauce flavours like teriyaki sauce. They use this kind of sauce for many dishes and pork meatballs are no exception. Instead of coating the meatballs in sweet and sour sauce, I sometimes use sauce with teriyaki flavour which is called amakara-so-su (甘辛ソース). The word “甘辛” means sweet and salty.
Amakara-so-su is made in a similar way to the teriyaki sauce you can find in my recipe Teriyaki Chicken. But a small amount of dashi stock is added to make the flavour less strong and more suitable for meatballs.
Both sauces are based on soy sauce, therefore the colour of the sauce is almost the same. But the flavour is quite different. So, I decided to add two sauces to go with the pork meatballs in today’s recipe. It is up to you which sauce you pour over the meatballs.
Meatballs with Amakara-so-su (teriyaki sauce flavour).
You can freeze fried meatballs. It is convenient to stock up meatballs in the freezer. Simply defrost in the microwave, then serve with the sauce. I had extra meatballs so I made sweet and sour pork using these meatballs instead of cubed pork. I call it Sweet and Sour Pork Meatballs. I will post this dish soon.
Yumiko
Pork meatballs are deep fried, then coated in flavoursome sauce. By just changing the sauce, you will get quite different meatball dishes – one with sweet and sour sauce, one with sweet soy sauce like teriyaki sauce. Both are really tasty.
- 500 g (17.6oz) pork mince (ground pork)
- 1 onion, very finely diced
- 2.5 cm (1”) cube ginger, very finely chopped or grated
- 1 tbsp sake
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp cornflour/corn starch
- 1 tsp salt
- Oil to deep fry
- Shallots (scallions), white part only, finely julienned (note 2)
- A few lettuce leaves
- A couple of coriander or parsley sprigs
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Add all the Pork Meatballs ingredients excluding oil in a bowl and mix well.
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Take 1 tablespoon heap of the meat mixture and place the meat on a cutting board or a large baking pan.
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Repeat step 2 and use up all the meat mixture. I ended up with 24 meatballs, about 3.5cm (1⅜”) in diameter.
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Wet your hands and roll each meatball to a near perfect ball. You will need to wet your hands from time to time to avoid the meat sticking to your hands.
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Heat oil in a deep frypan or a pot to 170-180C (338-356F). The depth of oil should be more than the diameter of the meatball. (note 3)
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Gently drop each meatball into the oil. Do not overcrowd the oil. I used a 18cm (7”) pot and fried 6 at a time.
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Fry for about 3-4 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through. (note 4) Transfer to a tray lined with a couple of kitchen paper towels.
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Add the sauce ingredients, excluding cornflour with water, in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat.
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When it starts boiling, reduce heat to low and add corn flour with water to the sauce. Mix well until the sauce is thickened. Turn the heat off.
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To serve with teriyaki flavour sauce, place the meatballs on a serving plate/bowl. Pour the sauce over the meatballs, then place julienned shallots on top.
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To serve with sweet and sour sauce, place lettuce leaves on one side of the serving plate, place meatballs, then pour the sauce. Place the coriander or parsley sprigs on the side.
1. The quantity of each sauce is for half of the meatballs made in the recipe as I presented them in two different sauces. If you are making the same amount of meatballs with one sauce, you would need to double the quantity of the sauce.
Depending on your palate, you might find that the Sweet and Sour Sauce is not as sweet as you like and the sourness might be overwhelming. Taste test it and add some sugar if needed.
2. To make julienned shallots curly, leave them in cold water for 10-15 minutes. If you julienne diagonally, it curls more.
3. To check the temperature of the oil without a thermometer, use one of the following.
a. Drop small bits of meat into the oil. The bits will sink half way and then come up with small bubbles around them.
b. Stick a pair of bamboo chopsticks into the oil. Bubbles appear around the chopsticks and come up constantly.
It is important to have sufficient depth of oil to deep fry. If the oil is too shallow, the meatballs will stick to the bottom of the pot/pan. If you use a small pot or a fry pan, you can minimise the amount of oil to fry. You would need to fry meatballs in batches, though.
4. The time taken to cook meatballs depends on the size of the ball. When the meat is cooked through, you will feel the meatball is very light when you pick it up.
5. Fried meatballs can be frozen. Ensure that meatballs are placed without touching each other. Once they are frozen, you can put them in a bag.
Thank you so much for the recipe. Greetings from Brazil!
Hi Edgar, you are welcome and thanks for your greetings from Brazil!
Made these today. Delicious! Whole family enjoyed. Thanks Yumiko
Hi Charlotte, that’s great. Which sauce did you use?
I did the sweet and sour this time, I’ll be doing the teriyaki next time! Thanks again, I love yours and Nagi’s recipes!
Could I use an air fryer instead of deep frying them instead?
Hi LS, you can use air fryer. But the meatballs might come out a little bit dry.
I can’t find Tanaka brand mirin and or sake in Australia. What is another nice mirin and sake you used and it’s nice?
Hi El, I haven’t heard of Tanaka brand. Did you Mena Takara brand? If you are not close to Japanese/Asian grocery stores, you can find Takara brand mirin/sake online such as eBay, FISH & SOY site.
I tried this recipe today, I thought that frying meatballs would end up in a kitchen full of oil everywhere and with very fatty food but to my surprise I noticed that they did not absorb much oil. Thank you for this recipe Mrs. Yumiko !!!!
I will definitely use these meatballs to make a less heavy version of sweet and sour pork
One question, why is cornstarch added?
Hi Ruth, that’s great! Corn starch is added to bind ground meat together.
Hi there Yumiko
I am delighted with your recipe for the meatballs they my favourite style of meat. .I recently add a recipe from NAGI they were the thai chicken meatballs..I will try these and let you know thank you.
P’s I have a couple of japanese/Canadian friends and will make this recipe and surprise them👍
Hi Gillian, please do let me know what you think and also what your friend think.
These look delish! What type of oil do you use for deep frying?
Hi Maxine, I used canola oil. But you can also use vegetable oil or sunflower oil which are suitable for deep frying.
Hi, would like to know can kids (6 to 2 yrs old) take food with sake in it?
Hi Jacqueline,
By deep frying and boiling, a lot of alcohol in sake and mirin should evaporate. But I can’t say zero alcohol because the reality is some alcohol will remain after cooking. Considering the amount of sake used and given they are cooked, I personally think it is OK and Japanese certainly don’t worry about it.
But if you would like it to be 100% alcohol free, then I would suggest that you replace sake with water, miring with water + sugar (1/3 of mirin quantity). The flavour of the sauces would not be as nice but still OK.
Hi Yumiko
I also have young kids and they love Japanese food but I am concerned about the alcohol content in them.
This question has been bugging me for a long time.
When the alcohol is boiled off in our cooking, does it matter if we have the lid on or off the pot?
Thanks!
Hi B, as long as there is a room for the steam to get out, which is usually the case, it should be OK. Even if the lid does not have a little hole, steam usually gets out from the joint between the pot and the lid.
I made these last night, super tasty 🙂 I only made the Amazu-an sauce, will be making the teriyaki flavour next time for sure! I also served it on a bed of shredded cabbage which soaked up the excess sauce nicely!
Love your blog!
That’s wonderful, Natalia! Good idea to place cabbage underneath them.
I am so delighted that you shared this recipe. My Husband likes Japanese food,but not store bought LOL.
He was stationed in Japan,So he ate a lot of Fried Rice,it was the only thing he could order ie the only words he knew. Nothing in the states as lived up to his time in Japan for the taste, I will make this for him and hope he enjoys♥ Thanks again. Nana Ninja
Hi Carol. I hope your husband enjoys niku-dango, too!