Pearl Balls

Light, succulent, and disarmingly pretty, these little meatballs of marinated pork dressed in a mantle of sweet rice charm most everyone who eats them. When I served them to one old China hand, she said they reminded her of the food in Kun-ming, in southwest China, in the 1940s. And that is their special beauty—with their simple elegance and gracefully subtle flavor, Pearl Balls exemplify real Chinese cooking at its classic best.

• “Pearl balls” in the lit