Timorese Meatballs (肉丸 / Ngiuk Yen) - Meatballs You've Probably Never Knew Existed!

We recorded my mum making "Ngiuk Yen", a Timorese meatball dish with Chinese-influences.
For me, I felt it was important to record my mum making these meatballs as it's a dish that no one knows about outside the Timorese community and it's also literally my favourite thing to eat.
Recipes are like stories and like stories, they can easily be forgotten through the passage of time. A recipe is not just instructions and a list of ingredients, it's literally a historical document that can connect generations, people and cultures together.
When you eventually make these meatballs, you're tasting the history of the Timorese community , their journey to Australia and the small ethnic Chinese community that once lived in East Timor.
Ingredients:
- 1kg Pork Mince
- 70g Dried Shrimp
- 10 Shallots
- 5 Eggs
- 2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 2 tablespoon Fish Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon MSG
- 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 500g Tapioca Starch
- Oil for deep frying
Method
1. Dice the dried shrimp using a hand blender.
If you don't have a hand blender, then simply dice as fine as possible using your knife.
2. Add the shallots into the dried shrimp mixture and dice it together.
3. In a large bowl, add the dried shrimp and shallots mixture into the pork.
4. Add the salt, pepper. MSG, fish sauce and soy sauce.
5. Mix the ingredients together by hand.
6. Then add in the tapioca starch and mix well.
7. Add the oil to a large pot and heat.
8. Once the oil reaches approx 165°C), form a tablespoon size rounded meatballs and add it into the hot oil.
9. Deep fry until the meatballs are golden brown.
10. You can serve with rice, on its own with sweet chilli sauce or with a side of salad.