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Meat Balls with Sweet and Sour Sauce (Tsu Liu Wan Tzu)

  • Nov 13, 2025
  • 1 min read

I adapted this recipe from Fu Pei Mei's Chinese Cook Book Volume I. It's apparently a Northern Chinese dish. The seasoned meatballs are fried and then topped with a savory-sweet-vinegary sauce. You just can't go wrong with that flavor combination!


Notes
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1

Place the ground pork and 1 tbsp cold water in a bowl then mix thoroughly with your hands for about one minute. Add the marinade ingredients and combine well. Let sit 20-30 minutes to allow flavors to develop.

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2

Combine the sauce ingredients into a bowl or measuring cup; set aside.

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3

Place 1 cup of cornstarch into a plate or shallow casserole. Form the meat mixture into 1" meatballs & coat with cornstarch. Place the meatballs onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Should form about 30 meatballs.

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4

Heat 6 cups of oil in a medium sauté pan over high heat. Fry the meatballs in two batches about 2 minutes each. Remove each batch to a paper towel-lined plate.

Reheat the oil and fry the meatballs a second time (again, in two batches) for about 1 minute. Remove & drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

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5

Pour out all the oil except for 1 tbsp in the pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the sliced scallions and sauté for 30 seconds. Stir in the sauce, bring up to a boil and cook for about 1-2 minutes until the sauce is thickened.

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6

Place the reserved meatballs onto a serving platter. Pour the sauce over the meatballs and garnish with fresh julienned scallions. This dish is great served with rice.

Instructions

Quality Fresh 2 beef fillets ( approximately 14 ounces each )

Quality Fresh 2 beef fillets ( approximately 14 ounces each )

Quality Fresh 2 beef fillets ( approximately 14 ounces each )

Beef Wellington
Meat Balls with Sweet and Sour Sauce (Tsu Liu Wan Tzu)
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Prep Time

30 min

Cooking Time

30 min

Rest Time

0 min

Total Time

1 hour

average rating is 5 out of 5
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