Lola Charing’s Bola-Bola

I never had the pleasure of meeting my great grandmother Lola Charing Valdes Gonzalez. Mom’s stories of her always revolved around food. She loved making and eating food. One of the recipes that comes from her is the family favorite bola-bola. Whenever we have family lunches at home, bola-bola is a constant. We always have it as part of the meal, even for Christmas.

Her bola-bola is crunchy on the outside, and tender on the inside. The secret to this magic is the oil temperature. It should be 350ºF or about 180ºC. As the oil’s temperature drops when you add them to the pot, make sure to fry them in batches, making sure not to overcrowd them.

This recipe serves 5-7 people.

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo ground pork
• 2 tablespoons finely grated Edam (queso de bola)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon MSG (monosodium glutamate)
• Enough neutral tasting oil for frying, you can use canola oil, peanut oil, or rendered fat
• Flour for dusting baking sheet

Procedure:

1. Get a baking sheet. Dust it with flour. To dust evenly, get a fine strainer to sift flour through and over the baking sheet. Set aside.
2. Using a knife, mince ground pork until fine. Transfer it to a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Add the beaten eggs to the pork.
4. Add Edam, flour, cornstarch, butter, salt, pepper, and MSG.
5. Cover your hands with rubber gloves. Mix the ingredients together until well-blended.
6. Form pork mixture into balls. Using four fingers, pinch some pork mixture. Roll your fingers once to roughly shape it into a ball. Transfer the ball onto prepared baking sheet.
7. Repeat Step 6 until all the pork mixture has been shaped into balls.
8. Get a frying pan or heavy pot. Fill with oil until it is at least 1” deep. You can also use a fryer. When using a fryer, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for frying.
9. Heat oil to 350ºF or 180ºC. If you do not have a frying thermometer, use a wooden spoon to test for the correct temperature. Immerse one end of the wooden spoon into the oil. The oil is at the correct temperature when bubbles form around it.
10. Prepare a colander to receive cooked bola-bola by lining it with paper towels. Place near the frying pan for easy access.
11. Fry bola-bola in batches. Drop the bola-bola into the pan. You can use your hand if you are confident and able to drop the bola-bola in without splattering oil on yourself. If you need some distance from the oil, use a slotted spoon to drop them into the oil. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan. Fry the bola-bola until golden brown. When they are done, transfer to colander to allow to drain.
12. Repeat Step 11 until all the bola-bola has been fried.
13. Transfer bola-bola to a serving dish. Serve.

Photo by Louise Hagedorn