xiu mai

Most people think of Chinese dim sum when they think of siu mai. Vietnamese xiu mai, however, simply means meatballs. My mom used to make this for breakfast on the weekends. It's best served with fresh french bread, which I would dip into the xui mai broth...yum! Since my mom gave me this recipe, I eyeballed everything and don't have exact measurements. 

INGREDIENTS:

• ground pork butt
• tomatoes, diced
• yellow onions, diced
• olive oil
• fish sauce
• oyster sauce
• ground black pepper
• soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine ground pork, olive oil, fish sauce, oyster sauce and pepper to taste. Mix in a generous amount of diced onions.
2. Form 2 inch sized meatballs and place in ceramic rice bowls (3-4 meatballs per bowl) or any bowl that can withstand being in a steamer.
3. Saute diced tomatoes and remaining diced onions with a little bit of soy sauce. 
4. Steam the meatballs until they are halfway cooked (approximately 8 minutes). Add a generous amount of the sauteed tomato/onion mixture on top of the meatballs and finish cooking (an additional 8 minutes).
5. Serve with french bread.

Note: With the same pork mixture, you can also make stuffed tomatoes. Cut a tomato in half and remove the seeds to create a "tomato bowl". Fill the bowl with the pork mixture. Heat a little bit of canola oil in a saute pan and pan fry the stuffed tomato (meat side down) on medium heat until the top is browned. Flip the tomato over and continue cooking until the pork mixture is no longer raw on the inside. Serve with a side of rice and a dash of soy sauce.