Lion’s Head Meatball Soup
When Michelle and Kristen came to visit, I tried making them another 1000 food group item: Lion’s Head Meatballs from China. This is a recipe that turned out to be amazing-it consists of pork meatballs (I purchased reduced fat pork) with finely chopped onion and water chestnuts in the meatballs, which are then added to a savoy cabbage broth. While simple, the meatballs in the cabbage are to look like a Lion’s head with the cabbage representing the lion’s mane. Meatballs, cabbage, broth and water chestnuts with a bit of soy sauce is all that it takes to make this simple, but delicious soup.
Lion's Head Meatball Soup
Ingredients:
Meatballs:
- 1 pound reduced fat ground pork
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ onion finely diced
- ½ cup water chestnuts finely diced (about ¾ of a small can of sliced chestnuts)
- 2 teaspoons ginger minced or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Soup:
- 4-5 tablespoons oil (if choosing to fry instead of broil)
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 small head of napa/savoy cabbage cut into 2″ pieces
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- Any additional thinly sliced veggies desired (shredded carrots, additional water chestnuts, peapods, bok choy)
Preparation:
- In a large bowl, mix together the pork, egg, cornstarch, onion, chestnuts, ginger and sal tan pepper. Shape into 8 meatballs.
- Place on a baking sheet and broil on high, turning as needed until browned on all sides OR place in batches in a frying pan and fry until browned on all sides.
- Place browned meatballs into a chafing dish, cover with 1 cup of broth and bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle.
- Place the remaining broth into a large pot and add the garlic, cabbage, soy sauce and rice wine. This is the time to add any additional veggies. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the cabbage is the desired texture (I like mine pretty crisp so approximately 5 minutes).
- Spoon broth and cabbage into soup bowls and top with the cooked meatballs.
