Chicken Pearl Balls

Name: Chicken Pearl Balls
Yield: Serves 8–10 as a canape
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 10 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps finely diced and softened in a little oil with minced garlic; 10 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps finely diced and softened in a little oil with minced garlic; 1 tablespoon minced ginger; 1 tablespoon cornflour; 3 green onions, finely sliced; ½ cup coriander leaves, chopped; 12 fresh water chestnuts, finely diced; 10 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, caps finely diced and softened in a little oil with minced garlic; 750 g minced chicken; 1 cup white sticky rice; 1 teaspoon sea salt; 2 teaspoons fish sauce; 2 teaspoons light soy sauce; 1 egg, beaten; 180 ml fish sauce; 5 star anise, broken; 250 ml Sugar Syrup; 8 blood plums, quartered; 50 ml fresh lemon juice, strained; 30 ml rice vinegar; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 teaspoon cracked Sichuan peppercorns

Preparation info

Serves
8–10
as a canape

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fire

By Christine Manfield

Published 2008

About

These dim sum-style snacks make a great party bite or canape. I like to serve them with a spicy plum sauce that I make by the litre when blood plums are in season toward the end of summer. It stores well in the refrigerator for use throughout the year.

Ingredients

1 cup white sticky rice
750 g minced chicken
1 egg

Asia
China
Snack
Spicy
Summer

Method

To make the sauce, heat the sugar syrup in a saucepan to boiling point, then add the plums, fish sauce and spices. Cook over moderate heat for about 20 minutes until it has reduced slightly. Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and vinegar and pass through a fine mesh sieve, discarding the solids. Keep the sauce refrigerated in sealed jars until ready to use.

Soak the rice in plent