Meatball noodles — Indonesia

Mie bakso is a noodle soup built around bakso, springy beef meatballs bound with tapioca starch, served in a clear, savory broth together with yellow wheat noodles or rice vermicelli and a scatter of fresh garnishes. It is reported across Indonesia, sold everywhere from mobile street carts to established restaurants, and is closely associated with Chinese Indonesian, Javanese and Malay cooking, communities credited with shaping the dish over time. Alongside soto and satay, it counts among the most widespread street foods in the country. To prepare it, minced beef is worked with tapioca starch, egg and seasoning into a smooth paste, which is shaped into balls and poached in gently simmering water until firm. A clear beef stock is kept simmering separately, and noodles are blanched to order before everything is assembled in the bowl and the hot broth ladled over. What distinguishes this dish from its close relative soto mie is the meatball itself: mie bakso carries the bouncy tapioca-bound beef balls as its central protein, where soto mie instead uses shredded chicken. Vendors otherwise personalize the bowl with their own mix of noodles, garnishes and condiments such as sambal and sweet soy sauce.