Xiu Mai (Chinese/Vietnamese meat balls)
My mom stayed with us for a whole month after John was born. To say we were pampered is the least of it. She made this for us while I was wallowing in self-pity about my peri-partum Bells Palsy (facial nerve paralysis) and Reid was fighting a flu-like cold. And she helped with baby John. The kitchen smelt so good. I asked her to write down her recipe for me (a very hard task for someone who cooks as well as she does). We ate it in baguettes with French mayonnaise and cucumbers and shredded and pickled carrots for banh mi xiu mai (though I couldn't chew the crusty delicious outer crust so I ate mine with lettuce). Xui mai, or su mai , or whatever other crazy spelling we've come up for translating Chinese/Vietnamese words into English phonetics are basically Asian meatballs. They are savory from fish sauce and soy sauce and have a bit of a chewy/crunchy bits sprinkled throughout from the waterchestnuts or jicama root. So like instead...