Vietnamese Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

1. Finely dice water chestnut and tomato .

2. Finely chop eschalot, brown onion and garlic. Thinly cut shallot for garnish and set aside for later.

3. In a medium bowl, add the pork mince, water chestnut, brown onion, garlic, fish sauce, salt, pepper, sugar and corn starch. Mix together by hand to combine all of the ingredients well. Let this marinate for 30 minutes. 

4. Using your hands, roll the meat into a golf ball size (or you can use ice-cream scoop to keep size consistent). 

5. Place the meatballs into steamer and steam for 10 minutes.                

6. In a medium pot on medium high heat add oil, garlic, eschalot and fry until frangant. Add tomato paste and cook this down. Add the diced tomatoes and mix together. Add water, fish sauce, salt, sugar and chicken powder for seasoning. Bring sauce to boil then reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 5 minutes.

7. Gently add meatballs into the sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

8. To make the sauce thicker, mix 2 teaspoons of corn starch and 1 tbsp water until smooth. Add the mixture to the sauce, combine gently. 

9. Place meatballs into a bowl and sprinkle the top with shallots and some pepper. 

10. Serve with bread roll.