Waikiki Meatballs

Although this dish was probably invented for luaus and summertime backyard barbeques, the great taste and awesome aroma of this dish will be appreciated at parties year ’round!

I found a version of the recipe below on the Internet. One cool thing about it is that it uses frozen meatballs, whereas just about every other recipe I could find uses fresh meatballs. I don’t know about you, but the thought of making 70 or 80 meatballs by hand is simply too much. On the other hand, if you want to make it all from scratch, you can – just find a good meatball recipe and combine it with this.

Also, this recipe is very flexible. You can make it the day before and reheat it on the stovetop or in a slow cooker, you can make it several hours beforehand and let the Crock Pot do all the work for you… or you could even make it straightaway for your guests! Just be sure to have lots of toothpicks – these meatballs will be POPULAR!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cans pineapple chunks in syrup, drained (reserve syrup for sauce)
2/3 cup vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 large peppers (green, red, yellow… your choice)
2 sweet onions
1 large (70 count) package of pre-cooked meatballs
Pineapple juice (optional, see below)

Hardware:

1 large pot
1 whisk
1 knife
1 slow cooker (optional)
1 cutting board

If you plan on using frozen meatballs (as per this recipe), move them from the freezer to the warmest part of your refrigerator the night before cooking so that they can thaw. If you plan on using fresh meatballs, prepare and cook them according to the recipe you have, then continue as shown below.

1) Chop the peppers and onions. You want them to be large and chunky, as if you were going to put them on shish kebabs.

2) Mix the cornstarch and brown sugar in a large pot.

3) Stir in reserved pineapple syrup, vinegar, and soy sauce until smooth (use a whisk; it prevents clumping).

4) Heat the sauce over medium heat until just boiling, stirring frequently.

5) Add the chopped vegetables and fruit and cook for several minutes (stirring frequently) until the veggies are hot and as cooked as you like, then remove from heat.

At this point, you have several options. If you wish to serve the meatballs in the next hour or two, add the meatballs and continue cooking over medium heat until the meatballs are heated through. If you wish to serve the meatballs a few hours from now, pour the mixture into a Crock Pot, add the meatballs, stir well, and set to “warm” or “low”. If you wish to serve the meatballs the next day, allow the sauce and vegetable mixture to cool down, then add the meatballs and put the whole shebang in the fridge; you can reheat the mixture on the stovetop or in a Crock Pot a couple of hours before your guests arrive (Note that the veggies will still taste great, but will not be as crisp the next day).

The original recipe I found on the ‘Net called for a 10 pound (160 count) bag of meatballs. I’m not sure that the person that halved the original recipe got the proportions correct, as there were far too many veggies and not enough sauce. If you find yourself with too much “stuff” and not enough sauce, simply add a cup of pineapple juice to the sauce. If you’re taking the meatballs to a friend’s house, you might want to bring 1 or 2 small (8 oz.) cans of pineapple juice with you; although the small cans are more expensive than the large (64 oz. ) cans, the smaller ones are much more portable and easier to deal with than the large can.

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