- [Beryl] Meatballs, there are some foods that you can find in every culture.

- I've never thought about a duck meatball before.

- [Beryl] They'll differ, of course, in some ways, but the heart of them remains the same.

- [Both] The final meatball (laughing).

- [Beryl] My name is Beryl, and this show explores how our foods can bring our different cultures together and this is our Meatball Episode.

Today I've paired up Stacie, and sisters, Celene and Tara, to swap their favorite meatball recipes from their cultures.

- I feel so special that we get to make this, a real family recipe.

- [Beryl] Stacie will make Celene and Tara's lemongrass wrapped Indonesian Sate Lilit.

- I've not cooked any Indonesian food.

- [Beryl] And Celene and Tara will roll out the famous Greek meatball dish, Youvarlakia.

- No.

- I have never had Youvarlakia.

- I've never even heard of it.

- Un-un.

- Oh my gosh, it smells amazing.

- Oh, it smells amazing.

(bowl clunking on pat) - Whoop!

Ah!

- Yeah, yeah.

- It's a stiff peak.

- Yay.

(both laughing) - And you like didn't have to cut anything.

- Nope.

- What a great recipe.

- Love it.

- [Beryl] Let's get rolling, get it?

- Beryl, I'm very proud of this.

- I'm proud of you too.

- Thanks.

(light upbeat music) (light orchestral music) - [Both] Dear Stacie.

- This is Tara.

- And I'm Celene.

- And today you're gonna be making Indonesian Sate Lilit Bali.

Celene and I live in Los Angeles, right now, but our American parents met in Bali, one of thousands of islands in Indonesia, we were raised there.

- Okay, Sate Lilit Bali, here we go.

- It was the meatball we grew up eating there.

- I've not cooked any Indonesian food, and I've never been to Bali, and I think that this is a great reason to go.

(laughing) I'm sold on the trip to Bali.

First prepare the spice paste, okay, I can do that.

(pestle crunching spice) Oh, she's smells so good.

- [Tara] Sate Lilit Bali is a minced meat, spiced-type of meatball.

- A 1/4 teaspoon of Kencur Powder, never heard of it before and I pride myself on knowing such things.

- [Tara] It includes bumbu, which is a spice paste blend that all families throughout Indonesia make it and have their unique take on.

- The protein in the meatball doesn't really matter, fish, duck, pork, beef, whatever you want.

It's fresh, which is kind of interesting for a meatball, it's usually very moist, it's a juicy meatball.

- It's juicy.

- [Celene] This one feels special, like a special occasion kind of meatball.

(chopper motor whirring) Ooo, ooo.

Oh, it smells amazing and you know what, it's the shallots.

- Oh, I was gonna say it's the fish sauce.

- I mean, no, yeah, right?

- And you like didn't have to cut anything.

- Nope.

- What a great recipe.

- Love it.

- I definitely have a couple tips when it comes to making the sate.

Tip number one is to work quickly, temperature matters.

- Okay.

- There's something so calming about watching things sizzle.

- And the reason I say that is because the warmer your spiced meat gets, the more loose it gets.

- They also said that I need to work fast, they made me a little bit stressed, in a good way, like a healthy, pay attention when you cook, stress.

But like now I kinda get it given how soft the duck is.

- [Celene] And so wrapping it around the lemongrass can be very tricky if it's too slippery.

(chuckling) So work quickly.

- So I'm familiar with lemongrass, but it's been a while, I'm very excited.

The thing about lemongrass is the minute you start peeling it, it smells amazing.

- [Celene] Like any food from Bali, it takes a lot of effort, and you ideally are kind of making it with your relatives.

- [Celene] Okay, time to mold it now.

- Yes.

- Okay, I feel nervous, here we go, okay.

- [Celene] Pretend that it is clay and mold it around the lemongrass the best you can.

- Beryl, I'm very proud of this.

- I'm proud of you too.

- Thanks.

- [Celene] Pinch the lower end to the lemongrass to seal it.

- Ta-da!

- Yeah, you did it.

Like we could be sitting here gossiping, - I have a lot of gossip.

- I wanna know, actually, Beryl.

- You're gonna have to cut.

- Tell me.

(both laughing) - [Celene] And then pop it right back in the fridge after you formed them so that they firm up.

- Oh my god, that's a good sauce, sweet, spicy, salty.

- I feel like people- - It's sour.

- Mix all of these ingredients trying to achieve balance that we got from just three ingredients.

- Yeah.

That's good.

- Oh yeah.

- [Celene] Tip number two is to deep fry the sate.

- Let's get going, let's get frying.

- Traditionally the sate is grilled on top of charcoal, but we decided on a whim to deep fry them instead.

- I'm a little bit nervous that I overcooked some.

(food sizzling in pan) - It's a meatball.

- I know, but we wanna retain that juiciness.

- Okay, Stacie, we hope you enjoy this as much as we do, we hope it inspires you maybe one day you'll take a trip to Bali, good luck.

- Good tips.

Love Celene and Tara.

- Bye.

- Bye.

- It's almost too beautiful to eat, except it's not 'cause I'm gonna eat it.

It looks so good I've been waiting to try it.

(light upbeat music) Oh my god, it's very unexpected.

The texture of the duck, it really blends, it doesn't have a ground meat texture, which is what I associate with a meatball.

It's really just this like mixture that's holding together all this coconut that just has like tons of layers of flavor, salty, and spicy, and sweet.

So today I used ground duck for the first time.

I used Kencur Powder for the first time- (spoon thumping on chopper) And candlenuts, I didn't even know those existed.

- [Beryl] Oh, it is generally very toxic when ingested in large quantities raw.

- Oh my god, this feels so exciting.

- Wait, now I'm like- - Okay, wait a minute.

Candlenuts- - Oh, here it is, it's toxicity gives a pleasing- - A pleasing?

A pleasing nutty almond-like flavor.

Well, why wouldn't I just use almonds and not poison myself?

- Because it's not as exciting.

- [Stacie] You're right, it's not at all.

- Will we live now to see the end of this recipe?

Stay tuned.

(both laughing) (light upbeat music continues) - Oh, I just got a bite that had like a strong lemongrass flavor.

Every bite feels like it has something different to offer, it's delicious.

I've eaten food from all over the worlds, I've traveled a bunch, this is really truly unlike anything I've eaten before, and that's exciting.

It's like much sweeter than I thought.

- Whoa.

- Isn't it crazy?

- I've never had anything that tastes like this in my life and we've been making this show for awhile now (laughing).

- It's so good.

- The coconut is so surprising.

- Yeah!

- And the spice with it is amazing.

- And isn't it less spicy than you thought?

Like it's a slow heat that kind of builds, but it's not.

- I feel, I'm just smiling, this is delicious.

- It's so good.

- This was such a great experience.

Celene, Tara, thank you.

- Thank you.

(light guitar music) Hi Celene and Tara, I am Stacie and you are gonna be making Greek Youvarlakia.

Youvarlakia are Greek-style meatballs.

What makes Youvarlakia different is two things, one is that they have rice in them, the other is that they are served in an egg lemon sauce, Avgolemono, you might have heard of that before.

(all laughing) - [Beryl] You've got issues on this side here.

- Oh my god, here we go.

- Here we go.

- I will be the sacrificial lamb.

- Okay.

- With the onion.

- So you're gonna, you'll grate.

- I'll grate the onion.

- How about I mince some herbs?

- Okay.

- Okay.

- We'll start with that.

- Cool.

- Okie-dokie.

- [Stacie] This is a dish that my great grandmother used to make for me.

I grew up in the United States, in New Jersey, but both of my parents are from Greece.

(onion scrunching on grater) - Oh boy!

- Is it coming?

- Yeah, I'm being vulnerable right now.

(both laughing) - You said your eyes are- - Yeah.

(indistinct) - They get, I'm sensitive.

- [Stacie] My grandmother was constantly cooking Greek food, including this dish, which really reminds me of her.

For me, as a Greek American, I think of this as a homestyle dish, especially in the winter, and I just love it so much.

- Peeled and kept intact by the stem.

- So yeah, leave the bud.

- Stacie, did I do it right?

- [Stacie] Every time I take a bite, I think about being in Greece, although I will say it's not something that you'll always find on a menu in Greece, or even in Greek American restaurants, for me I very much think about it as a Greek home cooking dish.

- This is so pretty.

- It's really beautiful.

- Look how num-num.

- Some people might find it strange to put raw rice into a meatball mixture, but you wanna make the meatballs golf ball sized.

- Golf ball sized I think, she said.

- Golf ball sized, we should yield 18 to 20.

- Okay.

(light guitar music continues) - Ta-da!

- Cheese.

- Cheers.

(all laughing) - And then they're going to cook in water that I remember my grandmother flavoring with a bay leaf and some lemon peel, so that's how I do it too.

And if you make them the right size, and you have a good broth going, the rice is gonna cook through.

So they're kind of hefty, but at the same time tender because we're boiling them and the flavor really does come from that Avgolemono sauce.

It can be a little bit difficult to make this because you're working with egg and you don't want the egg to break.

- Okay, so now we're gonna separate the eggs.

- Egg whites from the yolks.

- Yeah, I'm nervous.

- Don't be nervous.

- Guys, don't look at me.

(both laughing) (egg cracking on bowl) - So first you're gonna whisk the egg whites into hard peaks, set those aside.

I would say use a hand mixer so that it's easier than a whisk, it's really hard to get stiff peaks with just a hand whisk, I mean, unless you're super strong (laughing).

(hand mixer motor whirring) - Ah!

(all laughing) Okay wait.

Ah!

- Yeah, yeah.

- It's a stiff peak.

- Yay!

(all clapping) - [Stacie] Then you're gonna whisk lemon juice into the egg yolk, and then you're gonna add that to the egg whites and fold it really gently.

- This is beautiful.

- Yeah, the color is gorgeous.

- Then comes the tricky part.

So what you wanna do is you wanna ladle the sauce out and into the bowl with the egg mixture, that you've been working so hard on, in tiny little steady drizzles.

♪ Da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-na.

♪ - Also, I like this whisk (indistinct).

- Wait, what were we saying?

♪ The final meatball.

♪ (both laughing) - And then when your Avgolemono sauce has been brought up to temperature, and now it's really warm, like almost hot, then you pour it into the hot broth and the temperatures are the same so the egg isn't gonna break, you stir it in and there you go, you've got an Avgolemono sauce.

Like I said, this recipe is inspired by things I remember from my grandmother's recipe, but it is my own and I really hope you like it.

Love Stacie.

- Aww.

- Yay.

- Yay (clapping).

- Stacie.

Yay.

- All right.

(dish clunking on counter) - It looks so good.

(spoons smacking) Cheers.

- I'm gonna go for this one.

- Ooh.

(light upbeat music) Wow, it's so lemony, I love it.

It's very flavorable, very acidic.

- And the lemon sauce is very soft.

- Um-hm.

- [Celene] I can still feel the texture of the rice in it, which is really nice.

- And it makes it like more creamy.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- And keeps it light.

I think we were most nervous about getting the, I can't, Av- - What is it?

- Avgolemono.

- Avgolemono.

- Avgolemono.

- Avgolemono sauce.

- (laughing) Yeah.

I had never stiffened egg white peaks before so that was new for me.

(beater motor whirring) - [Celene] You're just trying to get the air in it, yes.

- Oh, I see.

- Bigger bubbles.

- Oh wow!

- Yeah.

- You did a great job!

- Thank you, it was fun.

(indistinct) It was really fun.

Yeah, that part was really- - Yeah.

- Riveting.

Ah!

(all laughing) It's such an honor to get to try- - Totally.

- This, you know, family heirloom really.

- You know like an immediate handshake with a generation past.

- Yeah.

- Kinda thing.

- Wait, yeah, totally this is my flavor.

It is sour.

- Yep.

- And the meatball actually has such good texture.

- Un-huh, yeah.

- With the sauce, it's so creamy.

- Um-hm.

- I can't believe how creamy this got.

- I know.

- It's changed.

- Yeah.

- This is surprising.

Stacie, love this.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of, "Pan Pals."

Let me know in the comments if there is a special meatball dish from your country that we should all know about.

And if you like home cooking, you should check out the latest season of, "The Great American Recipe."

The show features eight talented home cooks in a competition that celebrates the diversity and flavors of foods across the U.S. You can watch the first episode here on the PBS Food YouTube Channel, and check out the rest of the season every week on the PBS App and your local PBS station.

Check it out in the links and in the description.

(light flute music)