What is Bakso?
Bakso is a delightful dish that takes on many forms; these meatballs are made from chicken, beef, pork, or some amorphous combination of them all.
Sold mostly from pushcarts called kaki lima, bakso comes garnished with fried shallots, boiled egg, and wontons. In Indonesia, they classify this dish as comfort food.
Ingredients
- Bakso (meatballs)
- 250-gram beef
- 80-gram ice cubes
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 100-gram tapioca starch
Broth
- 8 cups beef stock (*)
- 4 stalks Chinese celery, knotted
- 4 stalks scallion, knotted
- 4 cloves garlic, mashed
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
Accompaniments
- 4 servings of rice noodles
- 4 bunches baby bok choy, washed and drained, halve each bunch, parboiled
- thinly sliced scallions
- thinly sliced Chinese celeries
- deep-fried shallots
- chili sauce (Indonesian: sambal)
Instructions
- Grind together all meatballs ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Take about 1 tablespoon of the mixture and shape it into a ball. Repeat until all beef mixture is used up.
- Boil a pot of water and cook the beef balls. They will sink to the bottom, and once cooked, will float to the top. Remove cooked beef balls from the pot and set them aside.
Broth :
- Place all broth ingredients in a soup pot and bring to a boil.
- Add beef balls into the broth, turn off the heat when it boils again.
To serve :
- Divide cooked rice noodles and blanched baby bok choy into 4 serving bowls.
- Top with beef balls and hot broth.
- Serve with sliced scallions, Chinese celeries, and deep-fried shallots.
- Serve with a side of chili sauce.
