CHICKEN - Five-Spice Chicken Meatballs with Leek and Goji Berries

By Aemelia

Ingredients

• 500 g / 18 oz mince chicken
• 1 tsp five-spice powder (can be found in spices aisle in Coles, Woolworths & Harris Farm)
• 1 tsp sea salt (as a guide only)
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (I used Ayam brand available in Coles, Woolworths & Harris Farm)
• 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (depending on your taste)
• Ginger (1.5 inches X 0.6 inch thick)
• 1 leek, washed
• 2 tsps goji berries
• Some cooking oil

Details

Adapted from fussfreecooking.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 356 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a parchment paper over a baking tray, set aside.
Combine mince chicken with five-spice powder, sea salt, sesame oil and white pepper.



Moisten your palm (one palm should be enough, hehe!) with cooking oil and mix all the ingredients together until “doughy” texture is achieved. This is to ensure the meatballs are “bouncy” and firm and don’t fall apart when cooking. This process takes about 2-3 minutes depending how nimble your fingers are, ha!

Form a ball from a tablespoon (only an approximation!) of meat dough and place it on the parchment paper lined tray. If the dough feels a little sticky, moisten your palm with more cooking oil. Keep rollin’ with the remaining dough. I made 20 meatballs from this recipe.

Let the meatballs bake in the oven for 25 minutes (this may vary depending on your oven). Meanwhile, stir oyster sauce and water until combine in a bowl or measuring jug.

Slice the ginger as fine as possible.



Slice the leek as finely as possible.

Heat 2 tbsps of cooking oil in a wok over medium flame. Saute ginger when the oil is hot (sizzling hot and not smokin’ hot!).

Followed by leek. Saute until soften.



Push the ginger and leek to a side of the wok and add the oyster sauce mixture in the middle of the wok. Do this over low flame.

Add goji berries into sauce to rehydrate the berries over low flame. Also check if the meatballs are cooked.

{upclose – dried goji berries aka wolfberries aka 枸杞 – which can be purchased from health stores or found in the health / baking aisle in Coles and Woolworths}

When the berries look rehydrated and the sauce thickens, push the leek and ginger back to the center of wok and toss to mix the sauce and ginger and leek. Taste the leek and sauce, add soy sauce if you wish (I added 1/2 tbsp for mine). About this time the meatballs should be cooked. Remove them from the oven.

Add meatballs into the leek mixture and toss gently to mix everything together.

Serve immediately with rice.