Meatball Lover’s Alert – Red Braised Lions Head (红烧狮子头)
soupeduprecipes.com recipe - Asian
- Prep time
- 14 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 600 g skinless pork belly
- 100 g bamboo shoot can be switched with water chestnut, carrot, and shitake mushroom.
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- White pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 pc scallion
- 1/2 tbsp diced ginger
- 2 clove diced garlic
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 5 tbsp cornstarch
- 1.5 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 pc scallion
- 5-6 slice ginger
- 4-5 clove garlic
- 1/2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 a star anise
- 2 pc bay leaves
- 2.5 cup water
- 2.5 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- Blanched Baby Bok Choy
- 4 cup frying oil for deep-frying
Instructions
- 1
Diced the pork belly into soybean size. Use the cleaver to roughly run over the meat a couple of minutes. This will help the pork bits stick together.
- 2
Dice 100 grams of baby bamboo shoot. You can use water chestnut, carrot, shitake mushroom instead.
- 3
Put the diced bamboo shoot with the pork. Season them with 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of sugar, and some freshly ground white pepper to taste. Mix it well and set the pork aside.
- 4
In a blender cup, add 1 scallion (diced), 1/2 tbsp of roughly diced ginger, 2 cloves of diced garlic, 1/2 tsp of Sichuan peppercorns, and 1/2 cup of water; blend everything into a puree. Let it go through a sieve to get rid of any stubborn bits.
- 5
Mix the aromatic water with 5 tbsp of cornstarch.
- 6
Pour the cornstarch mixture into the pork in batches. Stir it within 1 direction until all the liquid is absorbed. Then, pour in a little more and keep stirring. Once all the starch mixture is gone, continue to whisk the meat within one direction for another 4-5 minutes to develop the texture.
- 7
Evenly divide the meat into 7 batches. Shape them into big meatballs.
- 8
Add 1.5 tbsp of oil and 2 tbsp of sugar into a claypot (you can use other cookware if you want). Turn the heat to low and stir the sugar constantly until it is caramelized. Toss in all the following aromatics: 1/2 tbsp of Sichuan peppercorns, 1/2 of a cinnamon stick, 1/2 of a star anise, 2 pieces of bay leaves, scallions strips, 5-6 slices of ginger, 4-5 cloves of slightly crushed and peeled garlic. Stir for a couple of minutes or until fragrant. Pour in 2.5 cups of water. Bring this to a boil. Then add 2.5 tbsp of soy sauce, 1/4 cup of Chinese cooking, and a drizzle of dark soy sauce.
- 9
Move the clay pot off the stove and deep fry the meatballs. Heat the oil to 380 F and fry the meatballs for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.
- 10
Transfer the meatballs into the claypot. Let it simmer on the lowest heat for 1 hour.
- 11
Serve the meatballs with some blanched baby bok choy and white rice.