Spicy & Hearty Beef Ball Soup. Anita's Spicy Column

A comforting soup is like a big bear hug.

It warms you up from the inside out.

It lights up your eyes and makes you smile.



After a long week away from home, I needed a big bowl pot of comforting soup. A good soup to me should have a few flavour elements: spicy, savoury, and bright. And it should also use up whatever ingredients I have in the fridge or pantry. So today’s soup was just that. I drew inspiration from my mum’s ABC soup, she used to make this for me all the time when I was little. She would add carrot, corn and potatoes in her soup. Today’s soup is a variation of that.

To make my spicy and hearty beef ball soup, I first dry-roasted my spice blend: cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves, celery seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and dried pasilla pepper. All of these spices go into the pot to toast.

Pasilla pepper is a medium-hot pepper with a dark and rich flavour. It is often described as having a chocolate-ty flavour. If this is not available to you, you may easily replace it with other dried chilies of your choice, or omit it altogether for a milder soup.

As the spices are toasting, I got ready the ingredients for the soup: potatoes, tomatoes, red apples, carrots, onion, garlic and pork bones. Note that I always keep either pork or chicken bones in my freezer for the purpose of making a good soup stock. I add these ingredients (except the potatoes) into the pot and stir the pot to make sure that nothing is burning on the bottom of the pot. Immediately add fresh boiling water to fill the pot. Add a pinch of sea salt and let the soup simmer for a good hour or so. I usually let my soups simmer for as long as I can wait (usually 1.5 hours)!

Apples add a nice sweetness to the soup and if you allow the soup to simmer for longer, the apples will melt into the soup and this naturally thickens the soup.

Tomatoes add a nice balanced brightness to the soup. Plus, tomatoes and beef go hand-in-hand always.

Add potatoes to the soup about 30 minutes before the soup is ready, I want the potatoes to still hold their shape when I drink the soup.

While the soup is simmering, I made the beef balls. Put the ground beef, parsley, corn starch, perilla seed oil, soy sauce, pepper and panko breadcrumbs into a large mixing bowl. Mix all the ingredients well and let the beef marinate for at least 20 minutes. You could also prepare the beef balls a day in advance.

Perilla seed oil is an aromatic oil often used in Korean cooking. It is used much like sesame oil in Chinese cooking, but it has a very different taste and smell. It gives the beef balls a sweet and floral fragrance. Shape the ground beef into balls and gently drop them into the simmering soup. Cover the pot and simmer until beef balls have floated to the top and are fully cooked. Taste for seasoning.

Time to eat!

This soup is flavourful and nutritious. Make more to share with friends and family!

Note: This recipe serves up to 8 people! I told you I was making a big pot of soup!



Spice Blend for the soup:  

1 Cinnamon stick  
3 Star anise  
2 Bay leaves  
1 tablespoon of Celery seeds  
1 tablespoon of Coriander seeds  
1 teaspoon of Black peppercorns  
1 dried Pasilla pepper     

Ingredients for the soup:  

Pork bones  
4 Potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters  
3 Tomatoes, cut into quarters  
2 Red Apples, cut into quarters  
2 Carrots, peeled and cut into rounds  
1 Onion, peeled and cut into quarters  
½ bulb of Garlic, smashed  
Fresh boiling water to fill the pot  
Salt or Soy sauce to taste  
Sugar to taste    

Ingredients for the beef balls:  

1 pound of Lean Ground Beef  
2 stalks of Parsley, finely chopped  
2 tablespoons of Corn starch  
2 tablespoons of Panko breadcrumbs  
1 teaspoon of Ground Black pepper  
1 tablespoon of Perilla seed oil   

About Me

Hi Foodies of the Internet! 

Welcome to Anita's Spicy Column, a personal spice diary where I document my experiments with spice blends, share my experiences of cooking and baking with spice, and tell stories of my spicy life! I am a social scientist by profession, and a university lecturer based in Toronto, Canada. 



I have built for myself a grand wall of spice in my living room and it serves as my reservoir of inspiration and escape. I have my work desk just a stone throw away from this wall of spice, a very strategic move by me I must say. 

Every time I look up from my computer to take a breather, I glance over to my spice collection and it somehow relaxes and recharges me. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m crazy about all things spice. Each spice tells a story of its origin, travel and purpose. 

The humble peppercorn that is in every kitchen was first grown off India’s Malabar coast. It was used as a form of currency and was traded for gold. This fascinates me. 

Every new spice that I encounter, I would purchase a small amount to taste and learn.   

Spice is a gift that we’ve been given and I’m more than excited to be able to share this gift with everyone! 

Date: 19 Aug 2018

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