Mongolian Glazed Meatballs

Taco Tuesday has become a religion in this house. Ground beef browned with Old El Paso seasoning, shredded cheddar, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and those crunchy shells that shatter on the first bite and send taco innards down your shirt. I don't make my own seasoning blend. I don't make corn tortillas from scratch. I'm not that person and I'm not going to pretend to be. Old El Paso has been getting it done since before I was born and I see no reason to complicate something that works.

Emma eats her tacos deconstructed — meat in one pile, cheese in another, shells broken into chips on the side. She is eight years old and already has opinions about food presentation that I will never understand. Noah eats three tacos in the time it takes me to eat one, silently, like refueling a machine. Jack licks the sour cream off the top and then asks for a peanut butter sandwich, which is his fallback for every meal he decides isn't worth finishing. Kevin eats whatever I put in front of him and says it's good, which is one of the reasons I married him.

I had a tough assessment this week — a dairy operation near Boone that's going under. The wife met me at the door and I could tell she'd been crying. The numbers are the numbers and I can't change them, but I sat at her kitchen table longer than I needed to. I know what that table feels like from the other side. I know what it's like when someone comes to your home with paperwork that means the end of something. Dad never talked about the day the bank man came. I don't think he ever will.

I made meatloaf Thursday night — two pounds of ground beef, breadcrumbs, egg, ketchup glaze on top. It's Roger Weber's favorite meal, not that he'd ever rank his foods out loud, because ranking food implies caring about food, and Iowa men don't admit to caring about food. They just eat three helpings and say it's fine. Fine is the highest compliment in Dad's vocabulary. I drove a portion up to Grinnell Saturday. He said it was fine. I drove home full.

The weather broke this weekend — sixty-two degrees, sun, the kind of April day that makes you forgive Iowa for February. The kids were outside all afternoon. Jack checked his mystery seeds in the backyard corner. Nothing's come up yet. He doesn't seem worried. Patient, like Dad. The land teaches patience if you let it.

There’s something about a week like this one—Dad’s silence on the drive home, the kids outside in the first real warmth of April, Jack watching his corner of dirt with that quiet Weber patience—that makes you want to feed people. Not meatloaf again, but something in that same spirit: ground beef, hands in a bowl, the kind of cooking that doesn’t require thinking. I found this Mongolian meatball recipe and it hit the same nerve—simple ingredients, a sticky-sweet glaze you can smell from the living room, sixty little bites that disappear before anyone has to say much of anything. Roger had four and called them fine. High praise.

Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 14 min | Servings: 60 Meatballs

Ingredients

For the Meatballs:

2 pounds ground beef mince (or pork, chicken, turkey)
3/4 cup breadcrumbs (or Panko)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing (Chinese wine)
1 tablespoon garlic (minced)
1 teaspoon ginger (minced)
1 cup green onions (4 green onions, thinly-sliced or chopped)
1 pinch Kosher salt (to taste)
1 pinch cracked pepper (to taste)

For the Sauce:

1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 tablespoon ginger (minced)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon ground white pepper (or 1/2–1 tablespoon red chilli / powder)

For Serving:

1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 green onion (finely sliced)

Instructions

Preheat oven. Preheat oven to 200°C | 400°F.
Mix the meatballs. Mix together all of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl until well-combined. Spoon out 1-inch of meat mixture with a cookie scoop (or tablespoon), shape into balls and place onto 2 large baking sheets or trays lined with baking or parchment paper.
Bake. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until golden browned and cooked through. While the meatballs are baking, make your sauce.
Make the sauce. Heat a non-stick pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Whisk ALL of the sauce ingredients together in the pan until well blended. Bring to a simmer and continue cooking until sauce thickens, while stirring occasionally to prevent burning or sticking on the bottom of the pan (about 8 minutes).
Coat the meatballs. When meatballs have finished cooking, add half of the meatballs into the pan and gently coat each meatball generously and evenly in the sauce. Transfer the glazed meatballs to a serving dish or tray with a slotted spoon and add in the remaining non-coated meatballs to the sauce. Coat and transfer to serving dish.
Serve. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and sliced green onions (if desired), and serve warm with toothpicks or mini forks.

Nutrition (per serving)

Mongolian Glazed Meatballs — When Words Won’t Come, You Feed People