Lion’s Head (紅燒獅子頭) Braised Meatballs

Lion’s Head (獅子頭) is large fried pork meatballs braised in broth. This is a festive dish in my family that we make for holiday gatherings. Whenever I make this dish, even on an ordinary day, or see it being served, I get this warm, fuzzy feelings of happiness, reminiscent of those joyful and lively moments where loved ones gather and celebrate.

Since frying consumes a lot of oil, I always make Lion’s Head meatballs in large quantity at once and freeze some for future use. Frozen meatballs come in very handy when you don’t have time to cook. Feel free to half the quantity stated in my recipe below if you just want to make enough meatballs for 1-2 meals.

You can braise these meatballs in any types of broth. I highly recommend to use both dried shrimps and dried scallops in the soup for they infuse this simple soup base with irresistible umami, savory flavor that you will surely want to ask for more!

Make today a special day by cooking up Lion’s Head Meatballs :)

*As requested, here’s where to find the Clay Pot Hot Pot Casserole I used.

Servings: 10 large meatballs

Ingredients:

For Meatballs:

1200g (2.5lb.) ground pork (not too lean)

100ml Scallion ginger water (2 scallion + 5 ginger slices + 200ml water)

2 eggs

½ box (226g) Soft/Silken tofu

5 dried shiitake mushrooms (optional)

2 tbsp corn starch

Meatball seasonings:

2 tbsp. Huadiao wine

2 tsp. salt

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp white pepper

2 tsp sugar

For Soup base:

6 dried scallops

2 tbsp. dried shrimps

2 scallion, segmented

5 ginger slices

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp Huadiao wine

2 tsp white pepper

½ Medium Napa cabbage

½ box soft/silken tofu, cut in preferred size

5 dried tea flower shiitake mushrooms (or any types of shiitake mushrooms)

Instructions:

1.     Soak the dried mushrooms for 2-3 hours or until soften. Remove the stems. Mince the ones for meatball mixture, half the ones for soup.

2.     Prepare for scallion ginger water by placing cleaned, segmented scallion and ginger pieces in water, gently squeeze scallion and ginger to release flavor in water. Let sit for a few minutes.

3.     In a large bowl, stir together ground pork with salt and 50ml water. Mix by hand in clockwise motion until pork absorbs the liquid and starts to have springy, sticky texture.

Steps 2-3

4.     Add in eggs, Huadiao wine, another 50 ml water, and the rest of seasonings (soy sauce, white pepper, sugar). Keep mixing clockwise for about 5 minutes so that the pork absorbs all liquids and becomes moist and tender.

5.      Squeeze and crumble tofu by hand. Add to pork mixture with minced shiitake mushrooms and corn starch. Mix well in clockwise motion.

6.     Scoop up and slam the pork mixture into the bowl for 20 times to increase springiness.

7.     Shape the meat to meatballs, each about 3” (7cm) in diameter.

Steps 4- 7

8.     Heat up oil in a heavy bottom frying pot until temperature reaches 340°F (170°C). Or test with bits of meat, if the meat floats on top of the oil, it’s ready for frying.

9.     Carefully place the meatball in the frying pot with a ladle. Let it fry for 20-30s to set the shape before turning or moving it.

10.  Keep frying for 3-4 minutes until meatballs turn golden on the outside. Use a strainer to scoop it out on a plate. The meatballs are still raw on the inside. When cooled, meatballs can be stored in freezer for future use.

For the Soup:

1.     Soak dried shrimps and scallops for a few minutes until soften, drain water.

2.     Wash napa cabbage clean, cut/ hand-tear into large pieces. Cook cabbage in boiling water or by steaming to shrink its size first if you’d like to add more cabbage in soup at once. Cooked cabbage will flavor the soup with its natural sweetness faster. The longer the cabbage is braised in soup, the sweeter the soup.

3.     In a casserole pot, heat up some oil over medium heat then saute scallion, ginger, dried scallops, and dried shrimps.

4.     Place some cabbage in the pot followed by 3-4 meatballs in the center. Lay tofu and shiitake mushrooms pieces around the meatballs.

5.     Season the soup with soy sauce, Huadiao wine, white pepper. Pour in enough water to almost over ingredients. Bring to boil then simmer for an hour or so. Adjust flavor to liking.

*This is like a hotpot style dish. Add in more cabbage/ meatballs/ tofu/ mushrooms and water when first serving is consumed.