Cooking Korean

I have a 3-ring binder on my cook book shelf that is full of recipes I've cut out of magazines or found online. It's my "sounds good, I should try this sometime" book. When I do try a recipe out of the book, we then make a decision: is this a keeper, or is this a one-time only recipe. Many have turned out to be one time only, though only a couple have been complete failures. 

Last night I tried Sesame-Soy Meatballs and it's a keeper! Tony said that it has all of the traditional Korean flavors, so I'd like to think that I finally made something Korean. I clearly need to up my repertoire a bit, but I am pleased that my first try went so well. 

Feeling like you need a little Korean flavor in your life? Here's the recipe (and note that Tony said that his kimchi was especially good with the meatballs).

Sesame-Soy Meatballs

from Cooking Light

Ingredients

1/3 cup minced green onions

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon chile paste (such as sambal oelek)

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 pound ground sirloin

Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Add beef; mix gently to combine. With moist hands, shape beef mixture into 20 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs.

3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs to pan; cook 4 minutes, turning to brown meatballs on all sides. Arrange browned meatballs in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining meatballs. Bake meatballs at 400° for 7 minutes or until done.

Serve with brown rice or asian noodles.