Pearl balls, also known as glutinous rice balls and coat balls, originated from Hubei Yuanyang, and are known as "three steaming" along with "steamed meat" and "steamed white pills", which are classic traditional dishes in Hubei. In ancient times, it was the flavor food of Jingchu's hometown, among which pearl balls were the most famous, so it was also the first of the "three steamings". In fact, there are far more than three kinds of steamed vegetables in Hubei, and the three mentioned here are just a concept word, and the real number of steamed vegetables is probably impossible to count. Most of the time the steamed dishes we talk about are "festive treats" because all the local ingredients can be used for steaming, and the locals also make their own unique dishes according to their own tastes and hobbies. And pearl balls, as the leader of local steamed vegetables, naturally have their own reasons for domination.
Pearl balls are foods that are often eaten during festivals, such as red feasts and annual celebrations, so the shape is round, so it has the meaning of reunion and celebration. Pearl balls are generally only made by hand to be a delicacy, and the marinated minced meat is repeatedly beaten by hand until the minced meat is beaten out of the gum and kneaded into a ball, although it looks time-consuming and laborious, but this is also its delicious taste.
In fact, the ingredients for making pearl balls are very homely, minced meat, vegetables, glutinous rice. Pork and vegetables are stuffed, balled into balls, wrapped in a layer of soaked glutinous rice, and steamed. The pearl balls after cooking have a white and fresh color, sweet and mellow taste, soft and sticky taste, delicious and pleasant aroma, and refreshing shape. The grains of glutinous rice are full, shiny, and as endearing as pearls, so this is where the name comes from.
Vegetables that make pearl balls are generally most commonly used lotus roots. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, the lotus root was designated as a royal tribute. Because it is homophonous with "even", folklore uses lotus to wish for a happy marriage, and because it is not stained because it comes out of the mud, it is the same as the lotus flower as a symbol of incorruptibility and purity. Lotus root is cold in nature, has the effect of clearing heat and removing fire, cooked and becomes sexual temperature, has a good role in nourishing the stomach and nourishing blood, and is a good nourishing food. Therefore, in this season, eat more lotus, more nourishing than the taste of mountains and treasures.
In fact, before I shared with you the "lotus root glutinous rice balls" method, is to chop the lotus root and mix the glutinous rice together, knead into a round ball, steamed on the pot, without the blessing of meat filling, so it feels very common to eat the taste to be honest. So this time let's change the method, look at the meat filling, the taste will not be amazing?
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Ingredients: 220 g minced pork, 150 g glutinous rice
Excipients: lotus root 100 g, goji berries
Seasoning: shallot ginger water, cooking wine, an egg white, pepper, sugar, corn starch
Specifics
(1) Rinse the minced meat with water to remove the blood, then set aside to drain the water and set aside.
Tips: The choice of meat filling determines the deliciousness of pearl balls, it is best to choose three points fat and seven points thin to do, so that the taste of eating is fat and not greasy. The meat filling is recommended to rinse off the blood with water so as not to affect the color of the pearl balls in the end.
(2) Take a clean oil-free empty bowl, add an appropriate amount of water, cut some green onion, ginger shredded and put it in, grab out the juice in the green onion and ginger, so that it fully integrates with the water, and then add the appropriate amount of cooking wine, our onion and ginger water is ready.
Tips: Many people like to use warm water or hot water to make onion and ginger water, but in fact, warm water or hot water will make the aroma of onion and ginger volatilize part of it, so it is better to make onion and ginger water with cold water.
(3) Pour the minced meat into a larger basin, add the onion and ginger water in a small amount of times, until the minced meat becomes full.
Tips: Don't pour too much onion and ginger water at a time, add it 2-3 times, and each time you add a little, you must stir in one direction until it is fully absorbed, so that the meat filling will be smooth and tender.
(4) After that, add an appropriate amount of salt and continue to stir in one direction. The meat filling may not be sticky at first, but with the addition of salt, stirring for a while will feel gelatinous.
(5) Then add an egg white and whisk in one direction until the egg white is absorbed. Add pepper, sugar and sesame oil, whisk well and marinate for 5 minutes to allow the meat to taste.
Tips: The addition of egg whites can make the meat filling tender, keep the moisture, and make the meat filling smooth. White sugar can be added or not, mainly to play a role in freshening, can also be replaced by monosodium glutamate.
(6) Prepare a small piece of lotus root, peel it, slice it, cut it into strips and granules, and put it into the minced meat.
(7) Add an appropriate amount of corn starch, stir well, and then break out the air inside the meat filling, let it work hard, and eat it with a tighter Q bomb.
Tips: The addition of corn starch mainly plays the role of a thickener, so that the meat filling is not easy to spread out after making balls, it is easier to form, and it can also be replaced with other sticky starches, such as sweet potato starch.
(8) Soak the glutinous rice for more than 4 hours in advance, crush it by hand, and then pour out the control dry water.
Tips: When soaking glutinous rice, it is recommended that you use warm water or cold water, in the winter is generally soaked for 12 hours, soaked for 4 hours in summer, so that the glutinous rice can be fully in contact with the water, so that the stickiness of the glutinous rice can reach the best adhesion to the meatballs.
(9) Add an appropriate amount of water to the steamer and bring to a boil. The steamer basket is covered with dried lotus leaves or steamer cloth, and the glutinous rice is generally drier and better, so I washed the water with kitchen paper, or used a clean towel to suck the water dry, which is really not OK, and natural air drying is also possible.
Tips: Dried lotus leaves can make the steamed pearl balls have a clear fragrance. If glutinous rice is too watery, it will make the meatballs inside difficult to shape.
(10) Squeeze the marinated minced meat out of the mouth of a hand and squeeze it out of the mouth of the tiger, then roll the glutinous rice grains evenly and put them into the steamer basket.
Tips: To ensure that each side of the meatballs can be evenly dipped in glutinous rice, in order to make the glutinous rice sticker more firmly, it is recommended to pinch it back and forth, so that the shape will be more rounded.
(11) After all is done, put it in the pot and steam for 15 minutes on high heat. Steamed pearl balls are just fine with goji berries.
Pearl balls can be said to be very nutritious, with staple foods, meat, meat and vegetarian combinations. Lotus root is added to the lotus root to eat crisp, the balls are also very elastic after being beaten, the glutinous rice is very soft and sticky to eat, and the dried lotus leaves are bottomed, and there is a faint fragrance. If you want to eat it too, try it!
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