Comfort Food: Pork Meatball and Misua Soup
It's not really the noodles you look for in this soup, but their consistency. Misua has a texture that makes this dish so comforting.
Comfort Food follows the most practical part of my magic practice—recipes. Here’s what keeps my household healthy.
Recipe first! This isn't almondigas—which is a Filipino recipe reminiscent of Mexico's albondigas—but only because one of its main ingredients, patola (silk squash), isn't easy to find in the United States.
You can check out Kuya Vanjo's recipe if you're looking to make almondigas. Ate Lalaine has a recipe that's a little different, but I'm sure it's also good. While I grew up with typical almondigas, this is my version of pork meatball and misua soup shaped by my pantry here in Vegas. (Yes, the image doesn’t really make sense again, but we’ve been over this! Pagbigyan.)
Ingredients:
450g or 1 lb ground pork
1 egg, beaten
15g or 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
200g yellow onion, finely diced or run through a food processor
30g or about 6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp pork fat
37g or 2 tbsp fish sauce
1 beef bouillon cube or 1 tsp beef bouillon paste
6 cups water
100g carrots or cabbage, thinly sliced
115g or 4 oz misua (Chinese wheat noodles)
You'll also need two tablespoons, a bowl, a cooking pot, and maybe a food processor—I use one because I cry every time I cut onions. Good luck finding ground pork in the U.S.! I love this recipe but, like monggo guisado or pansit, I don't make it often because I need to go to Seafood City to get the ground pork.
Directions:
In a large bowl, add the ground pork, onion (100g), egg, flour, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
In a large pot over medium heat, saute onion (100g) in pork fat until translucent. Add garlic and continue sauteing until fragrant. Add beef bouillon and fish sauce and mix thoroughly. Add water and let boil.
Use two tablespoons to form balls of the meat mixture to drop into the pot. Add carrots or cabbage. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add misua and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
Substitutions:
I've tried this with ground beef. Because Mexico's albondigas is beef-based, I thought it would work. I didn't like it. But ground turkey works! And I bet ground chicken would, too.
I think white onions would work, but maybe not red onions. Instead of misua, you can use rice vermicelli, but I feel like the magic of this dish is lost when you don't use misua. It's not really the noodles you look for in this soup, but their consistency. Misua has a texture that makes this dish so comforting.
I only use pork fat because I don't know where else to use the bacon fat I save! You can totally use any neutral oil instead. I keep avocado oil in my pantry and use that when I don’t have pork fat on hand. As for the vegetables, I usually have carrots or cabbage in my fridge, so I use them instead of the traditional patola. You can just make this recipe without them—I do this all the time, and while it's not as healthy, it's still filling and delicious.
You can also brown the meatballs and then start building the soup around them. I guess this would add more flavor. But when I was growing up, the almondigas cooked by my grandmother, mom, or nanny never had browned meatballs. That’s why I don’t do it.
When Should You Make This Recipe?
CLEAR SOUP SUPREMACY! I love making this soup when the weather calls for it. I'm not big on creamy soups—I'll have them, but I rarely make them. Along with my beef picadillo soup, I also make pork meatball and misua soup when I'm sick or can't chew.
I've had dental work done on me, and this was one of the dishes that kept me fed without hurting my mouth. But really, you can make this anytime. If your family is craving a comforting soup for dinner, give this recipe a go! A bowl of this is like a warm hug and an “I love you” from your mom.
Photo by congerdesign on Pixabay
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