Teriyaki Meatball Bowls

As our other "bigger" meal of the week (meaning it's fed us more than once) we made one of our favorite Budget Bytes recipes-Teriyaki Meatball Bowls. While the recipe looks intimidating, it's really not complicated, just involves careful timing. This time, we actually didn't have enough soy sauce to put into the glaze, but it still turned out perfectly and it was kind of nice that it wasn't overly salty. We also refrigerated it and ate it for two nights, and while the glaze isn't as thick the second day, the flavor is just as satisfying. I prepped the meatballs for this one (including chopping up our green onions, which appear to be on steroids this week) and did the glaze, while Will handled the rice.

Teriyaki Meatball Bowls (adapted from Budget Bytes; serves 4)
Meatball Ingredients
1 lb ground pork
1 large egg
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 clove minced garlic
2 inches fresh ginger (I cheated and used ground ginger powder because we didn't have fresh ginger on hand)
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 whole green onions, chopped finely
10-15 cranks fresh black pepper
Glaze Ingredients
1/2 cup soy sauce (this is where we ran out and only had about 1/3 cup of soy sauce)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (we use regular sesame oil)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 inches fresh ginger (again, I used ground ginger)
2 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp sesame seeds (or really, however many looks like enough when you dump them in)

Rice Bowl (we didn't make this particular one)
2.5 cups jasmine rice
3.75 cups water
2 whole green onions

I know this looks intimidating, but I swear it's not!! Continue reading for how to put this all together.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a baking sheet by covering it in foil-set aside nearby. Mix ground pork, ginger, green onions, and garlic in a bowl. Add egg, soy sauce, breadcrumbs and black pepper, continuing to mix, preferably by hand. Roll mixture into meatballs, about 1 tbsp in size, yielding around 30 meatballs (I think we got 28?). Place them on foil-covered baking sheet as you create them. Bake in oven 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. (They may stick to the foil, but that usually just results in a crispy bottom! Or they fall apart...oops).

Once meatballs are in the oven, start the rice based on package instructions, allowing 20 minutes to cook and 5-10 minutes for it to continue steaming in the pot.

Next, begin to make the glaze. In a medium pot, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, water, rice vinegar, sesame oil and ginger. Heat over low heat until brown sugar is dissolved (only a few minutes). Dissolve the cornstarch in just enough water to make it pourable. Pour into pot with glaze ingredients. Turn up to medium high heat, stir and cook until thickened. Once that occurs, add the sesame seeds.

When meatballs are done, transfer from baking sheet to pot with glaze. Stir to coat. Fluff rice and serve meatballs over rice. You can add a few green onion slices to the top for flavor/garnish.

Recipe: Budget Bytes: Teriyaki Meatball Bowls