Vietnamese Pork Meatballs Soup with Winter Melon (Canh Mọc Nấu Bí Đao)

By Vicky Pham · 75 min

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Chill the ground pork in the freezer until semi-frozen, then break it into large chunks by hand and put them in a high-powered food processor.
2. Add the sugar, salt, fish sauce, black pepper, whole garlic cloves and vegetable oil. Blend on the highest setting for 5 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, stir the tapioca starch into 4 tablespoons cold water until dissolved, then stir in the baking powder. Add this slurry to the pork and blend on high for another 5 minutes, until the pork is a light pink paste. Set aside.
4. Bring 2 liters of water to a rolling boil in a large pot. Shape the pork paste into golf-ball-sized meatballs and drop them into the boiling water.
5. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook the meatballs for 8 minutes.
6. Add the winter melon and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until tender. Do not overcook, or the melon will break apart.
7. Season the soup with the sugar, fish sauce and salt. Turn off the heat and garnish with the scallions and black pepper before serving.

Summarized from Vicky Pham's video. Watch it for the details.

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