Pearl Balls of Hubei 湖北珍珠丸子

We are still in the midst of the week--just two more days to go till we get another weekend off!! So, I'm going to keep this concisely interesting (or so I think ...)

Growing up as a typical Malaysian-Chinese (馬來西亞華人), the good old (overused) saying "live to eat" holds true. My everyday food can be Chinese (duh!), Nyonya, Malay, Indian, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Filipino (oh, boy ... loving chicken adobo, my childhood memory!), Thai, Japanese, Italian, French and more whenever I get to try out something new from other cuisines ... especially in my own kitchen when time permits. I'm dying to try out Korean food someday! Lately, I've been diagnosed with a Korean fever in my own head ... Sigh ...

It's so true that we can learn about one culture--at least the basics--starting from its food. Though Chinese are Chinese (漢人) (what am I talking about here ... =_=""), we still differ from each other depending on which part of China (中國) we can trace our roots to. This is especially true between the North, e.g. someone from Harbin (哈爾濱), and the South, e.g. someone from Hong Kong (香港). Great cultural differences probably arose due to the great distances between these two regions. The southern dialect Cantonese (粵語 / 廣東話) and the northern dialect Mandarin (北方話 / 普通話) are not mutually interchangeable!

I can say that based on my experience as a Cantonese (廣府人) who also speaks decent Mandarin, though it's often not difficult for me to pick up what the Northerners are saying, I can get stumped by non-Southern slang, too! I knew some Chinese-Chinese (if you get what I mean) when I was in the States, and they were from Harbin, Shenyang 瀋陽 (in northern China), Chengdu 成都 and Wuhan 武漢 (in Central China.) Yet, I found myself an embarrassment as I often got lost in translation! Just imagine the worse ... We were already using Mandarin to communicate with one another. What if we were talking to each other using our own dialects and slang? This situation can't be compared side-by-side to the conversational chemistry that sparks when an American from the Midwest talks to another American from the South. That's because they still can understand each other at least.

The differences can also be found in others such as the do's and don'ts in everyday life. Food is an interesting thing to look into as well! As a typical Cantonese, I wasn't too familiar with other Chinese regional cuisines. It was only after trying Sichuan food (川菜) that I know I ain't a big fan of it ... though I'd still eat it. For me, it's too spicy compared to Cantonese food (粵菜 / 廣東菜)--I can't taste the flavors of the fresh main ingredients.

I made these when I was still in the U.S.

When I saw Florence and so many other fellow Chinese bloggers made these, I immediately became fascinated by the cute, round shape of these little meaty appetizers. Pearl balls (珍珠丸子) are a classic of Hubei cuisine (鄂菜 / 湖北菜). These glutinous rice-coated meatballs are neither too greasy nor too heavily seasoned in taste. They are simple to be fixed and the ingredients needed can be easily found at most Asian or Chinese grocers (if you happen to be living in non-Chinese area.) Steaming (蒸), one of the healthiest ways to cook, is used in preparing these meatballs. They indeed represent Hubei cuisine very well: flavor retention 味, freshness 鮮, tenderness 嫩, resilience 爽, detail 細 and presentation 色.

Pearl Balls 珍珠丸子 (Adapted from Florence's)

150g glutinous rice 糯米, washed and soaked in water for at least 5 hours 
**Though long-grain type is used more often for this dish, I used the short-grain type that's more common in northern and central China as well as Taiwan (臺灣)

(A)
300g ground pork

**I used lean meat

5 pieces dried shiitake mushroom 香菇 -- soaked till softened, then squeeze out the absorbed water from the "fat" mushroom. Cut to remove the stems and dice the more edible part of the mushroom into really tiny pieces

3 stalks spring onion -- cut out the green part; reserve the white part. Then, wash and dice it up, set aside
**You can keep the green part for garnishing later on by simply dicing them up 

1 heaped tspful finely grated fresh ginger

1 - 2 Tbsp sesame seed oil 麻油
1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine

**I used Shaoxing wine 紹興酒 
2 Tbsp light soy sauce 生抽
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder 五香粉 (optional, but highly recommended)
Dash of ground white pepper

2 tsp cornstarch

1 egg white

**I put it to room temperature

1. Mix (A) together and set the mixture aside to marinate for 15 minutes
2. Stir in the egg white into the marinated pork mixture. Using e.g. a pair of chopsticks, stir them altogether in ONE DIRECTION to incorporate and create a sticky consistency, which is a result of chemical reactions given out by the proteins in the pork and egg white. In Chinese culinary term, it's called 起膠 (pronounced as "HAY-Gow" in Cantonese or "qi jiao"/CI-jeeOW in Mandarin), which literally means "to produce rubbery consistency or stickiness"
3. Cover with cling wrap, place the meat mixture to chill in the fridge for 1 hour
4. Drain the soaked glutinous rice well in the meantime
   
5. Two tbspful per meatball, shape the chilled meat mixture into rough round balls with help from two somewhat large spoons e.g. Chinese soup spoons. Then, drop each meaty ball into the drained glutinous rice and coat well; slightly press the rice into the surface of the meatball to make sure the rice doesn't fall off later on. Proceed till everything is used up
6. Arrange the rice-coated meatballs onto plate(s) or steaming tray(s) that's lined with some Chinese lettuce or parchment paper (I used romaine lettuce.)
   
7. Steam them over high heat for 20 -- 30 minutes till cooked through
8. Serve the meatballs immediately fresh off the steamer!! You can eat them plain or with the following accompaniment dipping sauces:
• For a gingery hot, sour and salty touch, combine some Chinkiang vinegar (鎮江醋) and thin strips of fresh ginger together
• For a nutty and salty touch, combine 3 tsp light soy sauce and a few drops of sesame seed oil together--or to taste