Lion's head meatballs
Large pork meatballs, extremely flavorful, slightly crispy on the outside and most importantly very tender inside. 'Shizi Tou' are a real treat.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 500 g minced pork (70% lean / 30% fat)
- 4 Chinese water chestnuts (otherwise 120g shiitake *)
- 4 slices ginger
- 2 spring onions
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 tbsp panko breadcrumbs (otherwise regular breadcrumbs *)
- 2 tbsp rice wine (Shaoxing)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 0,5 tbsp water
Sauce
- 2 slices ginger
- 2 spring onions
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp rice wine (Shaoxing)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 dash black sesame oil
- 180 ml water≈ 180 g
Other
- 700 ml vegetable oil (for frying)≈ 700 g
- 6 leaves napa cabbage
Method
- 1Prepare the meatballs: finely chop the ginger, water chestnuts, and spring onions.
- 2Mix all the meatball ingredients for 10 minutes, always stirring in the same direction. Adjust (if needed) the consistency with water or breadcrumbs. It needs to be quite moist but you should still be able to shape meatballs without them losing their form too much.
- 3Divide the mixture into 6 (large) meatballs and, with your hands, shape them into balls. Place gently on a plate to avoid deforming them.
- 4In a second bowl, mix the sauce ingredients (except the spring onions and ginger). Set aside.
- 5Add the oil to a deep fryer, heat over medium heat.
- 6When the oil has reached temperature (180 degrees Celsius *), carefully and gently add a meatball, first placed in a spoon. Cook stirring regularly for even cooking. Fry for (approximately) 2 minutes but rely mainly on the color: golden brown you're good; black and it's overcooked. Set aside.
- 7Prepare the sauce: cut the spring onions into 5 cm pieces.
- 8In a pan, add 5 tbsp oil and heat over medium heat. Add the spring onions and ginger slices. Cook until it starts to smell fragrant (1 minute).
- 9Add 50% of the sauce then cover the bottom with the napa cabbage leaves. Place a meatball on each cabbage leaf. Add the other 50% of the sauce.
- 10Cook covered for 15 minutes. Serve.
Notes
Try to find Chinese water chestnuts at an Asian grocer or online. They bring a slightly crunchy texture to the meatballs and a hint of sweetness. If you can't find fresh ones, see if there are any in a can. Otherwise, replace with shiitake mushrooms; you'll lose on texture but the shiitake flavor goes very well with these meatballs. Panko breadcrumbs are found at Asian grocers. They are flake breadcrumbs generally used for Japanese frying. You can replace them with classic breadcrumbs or even make your own by blending white bread without crust then drying these crumbs in the oven: 15 minutes at 120 degrees Celsius, stirring every 5 minutes. A small deep fryer will save oil, knowing that we'll cook the meatballs one by one. Be careful to use enough oil to cover the meatball but not too much so the oil doesn't overflow. Don't be surprised if when you place the meatball in the hot oil, it suddenly starts boiling vigorously. Hence the importance of keeping space to avoid overflow. If you don't have a thermometer, dip a wooden chopstick in the oil and if small bubbles appear immediately, that means the temperature is sufficient to start frying. You can do as I do for decoration (see photo), that is use baby shanghai bok choy. Otherwise if you like a thicker sauce, feel free at the end of cooking to strain the sauce then thicken it by heating with 1/2 tsp of cornstarch previously mixed with a little water.
