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Words are inadequate to describe the flavor of Japanese shiso leaf – citrusy, minty, a bit spicy? Does it belong to the basil family or the cilantro?
Regardless of its ancestry, shiso leaf’s taste is a unique one. You have to try it yourself to understand.
Shiso is quite common in Japanese and Korean cuisines. It compliments all kinds of dishes, particularly meat and seafood.
Love meatballs? Add shiso leaves to your next meatball feast and I guarantee you’ll love it !
Recipe Card
Japanese Shiso Leaf Meatballs
Shiso leaves are quite common in Japanese and Korean cuisines. They are citrusy, minty, with a hint of spicy. Perfect compliment to meat and seafood dishes. Love meatballs ? Add shiso leaves to your next meatball feast and I guarantee you’ll love it
Ingredients
- 1 lbs ground veal, chicken , or pork
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp dry chilli pepper flakes optional
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp sweet potato flour or arrowroot flour
Instructions
- Combine ground veal with the rest of ingredients and form small golf size balls.
- Slightly flatten the meatballs and place one shiso leaf per meatball. Gently press each shiso leaf and meatball together to make sure they don’t fall apart.
- Preheat a skillet with cooking fat of your choice. Place the meatballs non-shiso-leaf-side down and pan fry until the bottom is golden brown over medium-high heat (about 4-5 minutes). Gently turn the meatball to allow it to fry the other side (about 2-3 minutes). Turn the meatball back again and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes or until the meat is completely cooked through.
- Serve hot & Enjoy!
Like this recipe? Leave a comment below!
Where do you get shiso leaves? I’m on the east coast of the USA and can’t find them anywhere. I’ve gone to multiple asian food stores and they give me a weird look as if they’ve never even heard of them!
Hi Jack! You can get them in Japanese grocery stores or Korean such as H-mart. Sometimes they are called Perilla leaves.
Sometimes it’s called Japanese Basil. Maybe they know it as that?
Just delicious! Thank you for this great recipe.
Thank you, Linda!
THESE WERE STUNNING! I’m shocked there aren’t other comments on this recipe. I expected them to be tasty, because I literally haven’t made something of yours that wasn’t, but holy smokes, these were absolutely incredible! The shiso leaves add such a refreshing lightness in taste. My partner is a serious video gamer, so he’s often not ready to eat for a while after dinner is ready, so I leave food in the oven on “warm” mode until he’s done. Making these this evening, they probably sat in the oven for 45 minutes, and in that time a gorgeous oh-so-faint crunchy crust formed on the outside of the meatballs and crisped up the shiso leaves just a bit more than when they first came out of the pan, and that bit of wait time transformed them into perfection. Thank you so much for this!
Aww Devon, Thank you! Yup, it’s one of my older recipes and I should give it a much better photo reshoot session. Love shiso leaves absolutely!