Thit Bo Vien (Vietnamese Beef Balls)

Tonight my wife had a craving for beef balls or thit bo vien otherwise seen floating in Vietnamese Beef Noodle soup or Pho. For the past 3 days I've been ordering take out pho from Hong Cafe in chinatown and Diem 99 at 99 Ranch Market foodcourt in Moanalua. Aurora and I love the pho dac biet which is the combination pho with the works that includes, beef shank, beef tendon, raw beef steak, beef tripe and beef balls. It's been a few years since making a big pot of pho broth since it takes so much time, patience and kitchen space for prepping. The apartment we're living in now has such a little kitchen compared to the last two places we stayed at. It all started when Au wanted something to eat that involved patis (fish sauce/nuoc mam) and vinegar as a dipping sauce. So she asked what we had that I could make that she could dip. The other day she did mention steamed pork hash (pork siu mai) but it was too late to get some fresh from Island Manapua Factory in Kalihi. I had ground beef in the freezer along with the needed ingredients to make thit bo vien. So she smiled and took a nap before dinner. I went ahead and defrosted the hamburger in the microwave. It took about 20 minutes for my 2lb slab to thaw. Here is the recipe I used after googling it. :)

Thit Bo Vien (Vietnamese Beef Balls)

1/4 cup nuoc mam or patis
1 Tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp Splenda or Sugar
1/4 tsp freshly cracked ground black pepper
2 lb ground beef
4 fresh garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 tsp sesame oil
canola oil, for shaping meatballs

Instructions:

In a shallow dish, mix the fish sauce, potato starch, baking powder, sugar and white pepper.
Mash the ground beef up and thoroughly mix it.
Add to the marinade and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Before proceeding, transfer the meat to the freezer for 30 minutes.
Work with half of the beef at a time; do not overload the work bowl.
In a food processor, combine half of the beef with half of the garlic and sesame oil.
Process to a completely smooth but stiff paste, about 3 minutes.
Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the work bowl.
The completed paste should spring back to the touch.
Transfer the paste to a bowl.
Process the remaining ground beef, garlic and sesame oil the same way.
Rub some canola oil on one hand, and grab a handful of the meat paste and close your hand into a fist, squeezing out a small portion of the mixture, about 1 teaspoon, between your thumb and index finger.
Keep rolling and squeezing the same portion between your thumb and index finger until you obtain a smooth rounded ball.
Scoop out the meatball with an oiled spoon, and repeat until all of the paste is used.
Pour 1 inch of water into a wok or wide pot, place a steamer rack or bamboo steamer over the water.
Arrange the meatballs without crowding in a single layer on the rack.
Cover and steam for 5 minutes.

Serve as an appetizer with chili sauce.

These beef balls can also be added to a well-seasoned beef broth, sprinkled with chopped scallions and white pepper and served as a soup (pho noodles may be added).
Note: These meatballs may be frozen. Thaw them thoroughly, then steam or simmer in boiling water until just heated through.

I woke up Au for dinner and brought her the bamboo steamers to her and she was all smiles. She ate it the filipino style which was with crushed minced fresh garlic, vinegar, patis/nuoc mam, blackpepper, and bay leaves as a dipping sauce. The recipe yielded about 60 or so meatballs. I froze the rest for Au for her snack cravings.

Beef balls are a little expensive on the pocketbook, so creating it from scratch and trying to imitate the commercial frozen ones is always fun for me especially when my wife can eat a ton of these!! LOL :D

Enjoy!! :)