Satay Pork Balls

So, I haven’t done a heap of baking lately. Our household has been very busy since making the big move from Auckland to New Plymouth (I will share one of the main reasons why with you all in a few weeks). Even though these aren’t the delectable sweet treats that you usually log on to see on our site I figure I may as well share the recipe with you as they are baked and very, very yummy and have enjoyed them twice since trying out the recipe less than a fortnight ago.

Ingredients:
500g lean pork mince
½-¾ cup of bread crumbs (add as needed depending on how much moisture is in your mince)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons finely cut chives
1½ tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons peanut butter
¼ cup sweet chilli sauce
Fresh salad leaves
Pita bread or mini burger buns

Method:
Preheat oven to 210ºC.
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl (or food processor). Use wet hands to form into ping pong sized balls and bake in a roasting pan you have given a light spray of cooking oil for 20 minutes; shake pan several times during cooking so balls turn over.

When cooked they will be golden brown and slightly crunchy.


Serve with salad leaves in pita pockets or in mini burger buns. Alternatively you could just serve them with salad as a lighter meal option.

I hope you enjoy these and I promise to bake some yummy sweet or chocolatey goodness soon xx.

Soft Pretzels

I made these as a Super Bowl snack last week. I haven’t made much dough before so I was pretty happy with how they turned out although I must say they were at their best still warm on the day they were made.

4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 ½ cups warm water
5 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup baking soda
2 cups hot water
¼ cup sea salt salt, for topping

In a bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water.  Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and salt.  Make a well in the centre add the oil and yeast mixture.  Mix and form into a dough (if the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water).  You can use your hands or a freestanding mixer if you have a dough hook.
Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes by hand and about 3 minutes if using a mixer.
Spray a large bowl with a tin coating of oil, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place like a hot water cupboard until doubled in size, this step can take up to an hour.
While your dough is rising preheat your oven to 220°C.  In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. Line two baking trays with wax/baking paper.
Once your dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a a baking tray lined with wax/baking paper.  Sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes or until browned.

I think I enjoyed the snacks more than the game itself – Shane is a Super Bowl big fan so I wanted to do something nice for him after all his hard work moving us from one city to another. Along with the pretzels we enjoyed Melissa’s chicken meatballs, some mac n cheese bites and American beer.

Chicken Meatballs wrapped in prosciutto

 

There wasn’t any of these left over after our high tea, they were yum!  I used turkey mince when we made them because our supermarket didn’t have any chicken mince (but yeah, they randomly had turkey!) which I think worked quite well because I kinda like the flavour of turkey.  I’ve re-made these at a later date with chicken and they were just as good and went just as fast!  The picture above is are the chicken ones and the photo at the bottom of the post are the turkey meatballs.

Makes about 24.

500g minced chicken or turkey meat
100g grated haloumi cheese
finely grated zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley or sage
1 egg yolk
50g dried breadcrumbs
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
10-12 slices prosciutto

Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Place the chicken, haloumi, lemon zest, parsley, egg yolk and breadcrumbs in a bowl.  Season with the salt and pepper and combine well.  Shape the mixture into small meatballs, no bigger than a golf ball.
Cut the prosciutto into thick strips, wide enough to wrap around the meatballs.  Wrap each meatball with a strip of prosciutto and place on the baking tray.  Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until cooked through.