Meatballs, who doesn’t love them? Especially if they are super juicy, packed with flavor, seared to get that crunchy outside but juicy inside, and then the whole thing is dunk in sweet and spicy gochujang cranberry sauce. This stuff is out of this world folks, the ultimate comfort food, and also the best thing to serve as party appetizer. Be prepared to double or triple the batch and watch them disappear into thin air, or more precisely, your guests tummies.
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The glaze in the recipe that I based this on was made with apricot jam, but I don’t have it at home. Instead, I have a couple of jars of cranberry sauce/preserve that I made for Christmas and they are still sitting in my fridge, so I use that instead, and it turned out to be surprisingly delicious. And since I use cranberry instead of apricot, the glazing has the color of dark maroon, a rather sexy shade I think Image may be NSFW.
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I use an ice cream scoop to portion the meatballs. If you don’t have one, I would say each portion is about the size of a golf ball. But seriously you can shape the meatballs as tiny or as huge as you like, just make sure to adjust cooking time, which for beef, this means the internal temperature should reach about 70 Celsius (160 Fahrenheit) once cooked. An instant thermometer is useful for this. Once they are cooked, brush the meatballs with the glazing sauce, and you can further garnish them with toasted sesame seeds and thinly sliced scallions. If you are serving them for party, it looks nice and is super convenient to stick a toothpick to each meatball.
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- 1 kilogram ground beef
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch ginger, minced
- 5-6 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 4 tablespoon gochujang
- ⅔ cup cranberry sauce
- 4 tablespoon gochujang
- 3 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- toasted sesame seeds
- thinly sliced scallions
- Combine all meatballs ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Shape meatballs with an ice cream scoop (about the size of a golf ball).
- Preheat oven to 175 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit). Line a rimmed baking tray with aluminum foil and set aside.
- Heat a little oil (about 2 tablespoon) in a large frying pan/skillet on medium high. Sear all sides of meatballs until browned. Transfer to the prepared baking tray. You may need to do this in batches.
- Bake meatballs in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 70 Celsius (160 Fahrenheit).
- Combine all glaze ingredients in a sauce pot, stir until well mixed. Cook on medium heat until slightly thickens. Set aside.
- Brush each meatball with the glaze, then garnish with toasted sesame seeds and thinly sliced scallions.
- If you are serving this for a party, it is easier for your guests and looks nicer to stick a toothpick to each meatball.