February 2006
Shida
by Celia Cheng
PEARL MEATBALLS
pork, black mushroom and water chestnut meatballs, covered in sticky rice, cooked in bamboo steamer
Okay, I swear it sounds much better in Chinese. It’s supposed to be a euphemism: the beautiful and glistening sticky rice covers the meatballs so that they look like pearls. Well, not only do these meatballs look good but they are also delicious. I grew up eating pearl meatballs. Meatballs are generally associated with comfort food, so think about how much fun these meatballs would be. Tender on the inside and chewy on the outside. If you like sticky rice, you can’t go wrong with pearl meatballs.
