Asian Meatballs with Sesame Lime Dipping Sauce

Name: Asian Meatballs with Sesame Lime Dipping Sauce
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 0.25 cup whole milk; 0.25 cup fine dry bread crumbs; 0.75 lb ground pork; 0.75 lb ground veal; 1 large egg, lightly beaten; 0.5 cup canned sliced water chestnuts, rinsed, drained, and finely chopped; 0.5 tsp salt; 0.5 cup chopped fresh cilantro plus 1/4 cup sprigs; 0.25 cup fresh cilantro sprigs; 5 tbsp soy sauce; 4 tsp Asian sesame oil; 2 tbsp fresh lime juice; 2 tbsp water; 2 tsp sugar; 1 steamed white rice

From the kitchen of Carly

Tender pork and veal meatballs studded with water chestnuts and cilantro, roasted until golden. The sesame lime dipping sauce cuts through the richness with bright acid and nutty depth. Addictive, elegant, and genuinely easy to pull off.

Asian Meatballs with Sesame Lime Dipping Sauce

Water chestnuts tucked inside keep these pork and veal meatballs snappy and tender, while a hit of sesame and lime in the dipping sauce pulls everything into focus. Baked not fried means you get a clean kitchen and a browned exterior without the oil splatter. Serve over rice and watch them disappear.

Prep: n/a
Cook: n/a
Total: n/a
Servings: 4
Difficulty: medium

Ingredients

4 servings

1/4 cupwhole milk
1/4 cupfine dry bread crumbs
3/4 lbground pork
3/4 lbground veal
1 largeegg, lightly beaten
1/2 cupcanned sliced water chestnuts, rinsed, drained, and finely chopped
1/2 tspsalt
1/2 cupchopped fresh cilantro plus 1/4 cup sprigs
1/4 cupfresh cilantro sprigs
5 tbspsoy sauce
4 tspAsian sesame oil
2 tbspfresh lime juice
2 tbspwater
2 tspsugar
1steamed white rice

Instructions

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 500°F.
Pour the milk over the bread crumbs in a large bowl and stir until every drop is absorbed. Add the ground pork, ground veal, egg, water chestnuts, salt, chopped cilantro, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 2 teaspoons sesame oil, then work everything together with your hands until the mixture is uniform. Scoop out 3 tablespoons of the meat mixture, roll it into a ball, and set it in a 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Continue with the remaining mixture, spacing the meatballs about 1/2 inch apart. Slide the dish into the oven and bake until the meatballs are cooked through, about 15 minutes.
While the meatballs bake, combine the lime juice, water, sugar, remaining 4 tablespoons soy sauce, and remaining 2 teaspoons sesame oil in a bowl, stirring until the sugar fully dissolves.
Arrange the meatballs on a serving dish. Give the sauce a quick stir, drizzle 1 tablespoon of it over the meatballs, and scatter the cilantro sprigs on top.
Bring the rest of the sauce to the table alongside the meatballs for dipping.

Tips from the kitchen

Chop your water chestnuts fine and mix them in cold, before they have a chance to weep liquid into the meat mixture. A wet batter means mushy meatballs.
Don't skip spacing them out on the pan. Crowding them steams the bottoms instead of browning them, and you lose all that textural contrast.
Make the dipping sauce while the meatballs bake. The sugar needs a moment to dissolve into the lime juice, so a little forward thinking saves you from a gritty sauce.

Variations

Swap veal for ground chicken if you want something lighter. The texture stays tender, though the sauce will taste sharper against the milder meat.
Use ginger and scallion instead of cilantro for a more assertive meatball that leans Sichuan. Keep the same sauce.
Make them smaller (1 tablespoon each) and serve as appetizers with toothpicks. They bake in about 10 minutes and disappear fast at a party.

Make ahead and storage

Refrigerate cooked meatballs in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Freezing works fine for up to 3 months, thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat gently in a 350°F oven until warmed through, about 10 minutes.