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Shanghainese lion’s head meatballs.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 23 tbsp sugar
  • 12 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine, mirin, or sake
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 green onion, chopped finely
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 3 large eggs, beaten (2 if you want firmer meatballs)
  • 1/4 cup green bean starch (if unavailable, cornstarch will work just fine)
  • 1 pound baby bok choy, stems trimmed but otherwise intact (but, as you can tell from the photos, regular large bok choy will work just as well)

Instructions

  1. Combine everything but the eggs, starch, and bok choy together in a large bowl and mash vigorously until well-blended. I just use my hands.
  2. Add the starch and mix with a fork (I suggest withdrawing the hands-on approach at this point, because the starch makes it quite sticky).
  3. Beat the eggs and add them, mixing again to incorporate. The mixture will seem extremely liquid at first — just continue to mix and the egg will gradually absorb into the pork, leaving a thick porridge-like mixture. If you want rounder and firmer meatballs that you can shape with your hands, use two eggs instead of three. I thought this yielded meatballs that were lovely and tender, so I used three.
  4. Pour about 1/4 cup oil into a large wok, or enough to coat the bottom with about 1/2 inch of oil. Turn the heat to medium and give the oil a few minutes to warm up. Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup or a large ice cream scoop, drop balls of the pork mixture into the wok in a single layer. Let sizzle in the pan for 2-3 minutes or until browned, then flip and cook the other side. Once the meatball is browned on both sides (it doesn’t have to be cooked through), remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. You will likely have to fry in two batches, depending on the size of your pan.
  5. Once all the meatballs have been fried, wash and clean the bok choy. Chop off the stems, and line the bottom of a large pot with the leaves. You can sprinkle the bok choy with a bit of salt if you like, though I found the leaves had enough flavor with the juice from the meatballs. Either way, place the meatballs on top of the bok choy and turn the heat to medium-low. Cover and let steam for 30-40 minutes, or until bok choy leaves have wilted and the stems are tender. If the pot begins to spatter too much, turn the heat down to low. When done, serve hot with rice!

Notes

Use baby or Shanghainese bok choy if you can find it. Naturally, the supermarket was out the one day I went to make these, so I used regular bok choy, which was just fine.