Benya's Bola Bola

Meatballs is truly an international dish. Every single country, city, town has its own version.  To point out a few:
"Kofta" - is a meatball from the Middle East made from minced beef or lamb mixed together with spices and onions, rice and vegetables, served with a rich tomato-ey spicy sauce.
"Faggots" is a spicy pork meatball from United Kingdom.  Primary made from pig heart, liver and fatty belly meat mixed with all sorts of herbs and breadcrumbs.  yumms?
"Bakso" is Indonesian meatballs made mainly from ground beef or mixed together with chicken and is usually served with soup or noodles.
I can go on but the star of this post shall be dedicated to "Bola Bola" - a deep fried meatball made with minced pork, minimal ingredients.  Simplicity is key to this dish.

On a personal note, on our most recent trip to Manila, Philippines, mr. had requested "Benya" - the head cook of the compound where him and his family (including his uncles family and cousins) grew up to cook all his favorite dishes.  Bola Bola, beef soup, chicken adobo with eggs, fried fish... the list goes on. :) It had been over 2 decades since mr had Benya's food.  Him and his cousins constantly remenisce about how Benya makes the best fried chicken, the best Bola Bola, the best this and that.  So on the day of this feast, with P500 in hand (equivalent to $12cdn :D) Benya gather all ingredients to make, wait, let's count....1, 2, 3....



Benya's food.  photo is terrible! i was too excited :D

 SEVEN dishes.  Oh what a great feast it was for 3 people :D  Let's just say mr was a VERY happy man. :)



close up of Benya's Bola Bola, again photo is terrible! i just wanted to eat!!

 Since our return from this trip, I was determine to out do Benya's cooking.  (sry mr & mr's cousins!)  We had asked Benya how she made her Bola Bola.  With her indregients in my head and my natural cooking instincts, I had successfully whipped up a batch of "Benya's Bola Bola" :D  Mr was very impressed.  I was impressed.  Let's just say, there weren't any leftovers :D

I had many times previously attempted to make Bola Bola but I here by am scrapping all other recipes and will be locking this one in the vault. :D 



my version:) before hitting the hot oil




tadum!!!


WARNING!: I should probably mention,, I just "eyed" & "felt" my ingredients in order to whip this up.  So
below recipe is only an estimated guess of how much I used for each ingredient.  Use this recipe at your own risk!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pound minced pork
salt & pepper
1/2 carrot & onion peeled and grated
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
2 tsp (heaping) cornstarch
2 tbsp (heaping) flour

Directions:
1.  Overnight, marinade pork with salt and pepper, sugar and soya sauce
2.  Prior to making, add grated carrots & onions to marinaded pork and mix
3.  Add 1 egg and mix
4.  Add cornstarch and flour and mix well.  It should come out "paste like"
5.  Heat 1'' vegetable oil to medium heat
6.  While waiting for oil to heat up, set up a plate with a layer of flour, make small size meatballs (size of a quarter) and place on floured plate.  This will help make the Bola Bola extra crispy and adsorb any extra liquid :)
7.  Once oil is hot, slowly place meatballs in, cook until golden brown on all sizes and ENJOY!!