Healthy Pork Meatball with Dumpling Dipping Sauce
Servings: 3
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 2 c baby bok choy about one head baby bok choy, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 2 tbsp ginger about 1 inch, finely minced
- 1 lb ground pork 80/20 ratio holds together best
- ¼ c almond flour
- 1 egg
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- olive oil as needed
For the Dipping Sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 ½ tsp coconut aminos can be subbed for soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp coconut sugar can be subbed for brown sugar
- 1 green onion sliced, to garnish
Optional to Serve
- iceburg lettuce separated into cups
- ramen noodles + broth
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F and prep a baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper.
- Preheat a tbsp of oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
- Finely chop baby bok choy (I recommend cutting it into a few slices longways first, then chopping through)- keep in mind that this will me mixed into the meatball, so the pieces need to be fairly small.
- Peel ginger and garlic and finely mince both.
- Add bok choy, garlic, and ginger to skillet and saute, stirring frequently, until bok choy has softened (5 minutes). Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Transfer vegetables to a heat safe bowl to cool while you start on the meatballs.
- To a large bowl, add your pork, egg, almond flour, and crushed pepper. Begin to break up the pork and incorporate ingredients, stopping just before the mixture is combined.
- Add your vegetables to the pork mixture and continue incorporating until vegetables are distributed evenly throughout. Be sure not to overmix, as meatballs can become tough.
- Roll pork mixture into golf ball sized meatballs and transfer to your prepared baking sheet. I use a standard cookie scoop and it makes exactly 18 meatballs.
- Drizzle the top of each meatball with a little bit of olive oil.
- Place meatballs in the oven and bake until cooked through and browning on top, about 20-25 minutes.
- While the meatballs cook, prepare the sauce. Whisk together all sauce ingredients except the green onion. Slice green onion on a bias and add to the sauce.
- Serve in lettuce cups with dipping sauce, or in warm broth with ramen noodles.