Sweet Chinese Turkey Meatballs with Rice and Cucumber Salad (#SquareFootGarden love)

These addictive meatballs taste like Chinese dumplings (which kids love) and the sweet dipping sauce makes them totally over-the-top irresistible. Plus, they bake in the oven which makes for fuss-free cooking and quick clean-up. Serve them with rice and a cucumber salad for a lovely, simple dinner.

…These are the words of the recipe’s creator, Catherine Newman, & I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Yield: 24 meatballs

Ingredients

Meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey
2 scallions, very finely chopped (Did not use)
1/2 cup very finely chopped cilantro (Did not use)
1 tablespoon sesame oil (Did not use)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup fine, dry bread crumbs (unseasoned)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (I used 1/2 T balsalmic bec/ I didn’t have rice vinegar)
2 or 3 slices fresh ginger smashed with the side of a heavy knife (I didn’t use ginger bec/ I’m allergic to it)

Directions

1. To make the meatballs: Heat the oven to 400.
2. Gently mix together the ingredients (hands are best for this), then form meatballs by rolling tablespoon-sized scoops between your palms.
3. Arrange on a lightly oiled or parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until well-browned and cooked through. Serve with toothpicks for dipping.
4. To make the dipping sauce: In a small pot, stir all the ingredients together over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves.
5. Simmer 3 or so minutes, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens a bit.
6. Fish out the ginger and serve in small cups for dipping.

This was AWESOME – delicious and fast, and enjoyed by both the kids and the adults.  It is so amazingly simple, no mess at all (okay, except for the cookie sheets). I served it with rice and cucumber salad (which was recommended and a perfect accompaniment). I found this recipe on Family.go.com (Disney). It was created by Catherine Newman and I couldn’t post over there to tell her how awesome these are.  I tweeted it from the original site, so I hope she knows how much I love it!

YES, my cukes were from my square foot garden plots! Still not used to the small squares but LOVE them for bearing hardly any weeds!