Lion's Head Meatballs

Lion's Head Meatballs is a traditional Shanghai casserole dish featuring oversized pork meatballs and greens.

It is made with pork fat and cooked in a clay pot. The large meatballs are meant to represent a lion, and the shredded greens its mane. This dish is good for the chilly winter months.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound minced pork

• 1 pound bok choy, or Peking cabbage (Napa cabbage)

• 1 – 2 minced green onions (spring onions, scallions) 

• 1 teaspoon minced ginger

• 1 large egg• ¾ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 2 ½ teaspoons ShaoHsing cooking wine

• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce

• ½ teaspoon Asian sesame oil

• ½ teaspoon black or white pepper

• 2 - 3 tablespoons cornstarch or flour

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 

• 1 ½ cups chicken broth

Preparation:

1. Wash the bok choy. Cut crosswise into 3 inch strips. Combine the minced ginger and green onion.

2. Beat the egg with a fork in a small bowl. In another medium bowl, combine the minced pork with the green onion, ginger, salt, sugar, cooking wine, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, Asian sesame oil, pepper, and egg. Mix the ingredients thoroughly by using your fingers. Add as much cornstarch as needed so that the mixture is not too wet. 

3. Roll the above into 4 large meatballs. Flatten them a bit so that they are not completely round.

How to cook:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet or wok on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the 4 meatballs. Cook for 5 minutes until the bottom turn brown. Turn over for the other side of the meatball to be cooked. Adjust the heat if the meatballs are cooking too quickly.

2. In a flameproof casserole dish, or a saucepan that is large enough to hold the meatballs, heat the chicken broth and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce together until it boils.

3. Add the meatballs into the above sauce, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover for 10 minutes. Then add the bok choy (you may arrange the bok choy on top of the meatballs to be steamed, or lay some in the broth if there is room). Simmer for another 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked thoroughly and when the middle is no longer pink in colour.