Easy Oriental part 3. Open your mind with Lion’s Head Meatballs.

Posted on by

Lion's Head Meatballs (12 of 13)The inspiration for this post in my mini series came when I overheard a conversation last week between two chaps in a Dun Laoghaire bar. Some snippets of their collective Chinese cookery wisdom; “They make it tasty by adding MSG. That stuff is really bad for you, full of lard.” “It makes you real hungry”. “There’s always loads of salt in the curry.” “The one in XXXX got closed down for serving seagull.” So went the assassination of the centuries old culinary traditions of one point four billion people. 

It’s a bit depressing when we think this way. Particularly when there are so many simple dishes of Chinese origin. Dishes that are both easy to cook and are good for you. My next mind opening recipe in the series is Lion’s Head Meatballs.

Lion's Head Meatballs (1 of 13)

The lion’s head name comes from the idea that the bok choi looks like a mane on the meatball lions head. Or so they say…

The ingredients list runs as follows;

  • 5 pork chops
  • 6 heads of bok choi
  • 1 pint of chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon of garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of ginger
  • 3 or 4 spring onions
  • 1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
  • a splash or two of soy sauce
  • a splash of rice wine or sherry, if you have any left over from that funeral.
  • salt and pepper to taste

First, mince the pork chops. If you don’t have a mincer, get a big knife and chop the meat up very small. Keep chopping until you have a coarse mince and  muscular arms.

Luckily, I have a mincer and only chopped the meat to fit it down the feeding tube.

Luckily, I have a mincer and only chopped the meat to fit it down the feeding tube.

The mince needs to be about this coarse.

The mince needs to be about this coarse.

Be sure to mince the fat as well as the lean. Then add the garlic, ginger chopped spring onions, cornflour rice wine and soy sauce.

Let the mixer do the work here.

Let the mixer do the work here.

While the meatball mixture is mixing,  chop the bok choi.

A gratuitous bok choi chopping shot if ever there was one.

A gratuitous bok choi chopping shot if ever there was one.

Bok choi or pak choi is a beautiful delicate vegetable.

Bok choi or pak choi is a beautiful delicate vegetable.

Next, mould the meat mixture into meatballs. Mine are a little bigger than a golf ball.

I got eleven out of the mixture. A difficult number to photograph. So, here's nine.

I got eleven out of the mixture. A difficult number to photograph. So, here’s nine.

Fry these off over a medium heat until they are brown on most sides.

Lovely aromas start to arise as they cook.

Lovely aromas start to arise as they cook.

In a different (bigger) pan, add the chicken stock. Transfer the (partially) cooked meatballs and bring to a gentle simmer.

The meatballs get to cook through in the stock.

The meatballs get to cook through in the stock.

Cook for ten minutes or so before adding the bok choi.

Stack it up and sit the lid on top. It will reduce down.

Stack it up and sit the lid on top. It will reduce down.

When the bok choi has wilted, serve this dish with some rice. The rice absorbs the stock and the whole affair makes for a wonderful autumn dish. Lion's Head Meatballs (13 of 13)

It’s about as far away from the standard Irish Chinese takeaway as Dublin is from Beijing (about 5,000 miles as the very tired seagull flies). It’s easy, inexpensive and delicious. Mind you, it’s not as easy as calling the Jade Palace for some chicken balls, if that’s what floats your junk. Go on, open your mind and give this a go.

I’ll have another western take on a Chinese classic next in the series. Keep an eye out for Cha Sui Roast Pork with Stir Fried Noodles, coming soon.

74 thoughts on “Easy Oriental part 3. Open your mind with Lion’s Head Meatballs.”

  3. We have various types of meatballs regularly, but I’ve never thought about doing those. good shout, Conor. One for this weekend maybe. Unusual to mince those chops though, rather than just get minced pork.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  5. Oh, I love this Connor! My kind of meal when the weather turns cool. I’ll have to forage through my unused kitchen stuff, I think I have a mincer attachment to my Kitchen Aid. Or I could ask the butcher to do it. Thanks for another fantastic recipe.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  6. oh Conor – Irish humour!!!!:):) Meatballs sound and look delicious – will certainly try those once I can ‘run around’ again – love Bok Choi – I only wish I still had my mothers oldfashioned mincer – can not find one here or abroad. Keep looking thou. Carina

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • Do. It is pretty manly stuff feeding the meat into the screw and seeing the resulting mince come out the other end. Not as manly as using the hand operated one we had when I was growing up. That would make a man of you!

      Like

      Reply ↓

  9. Hmmm…. my first comment disappeared. Conor, as an expert in gratuitous chopping shots (and the more advanced gratuitous dicing and mincing shots) I recognize talent when I see it. Your bok choy shot is cutting edge! Excellent post. I’m Pinning it. Ken

    Like

    Reply ↓

  12. Very nice, Conor! I had never heard of this dish, but that’s not strange since I don’t really know much about Chinese cuisine. I love the instruction to brown the meatballs on most sides 🙂 It goes without saying the pictures are great — my favorite one is the browning meatballs in the copper pan.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  14. these look great, conor. i actually (for once) have all the ingredients to make these. maybe i’ll give it a go this weekend. my meat grinder is one of those good old fashioned 20 kg hand crankers, so it’ll be an arm workout and a delicious meal.

    also, i’m excited for that cha sui. i’ve been developing a recipe myself for quite some time and i’m really pumped to see your take on a classic.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  15. We love Asian food, and I cook it quite often. The thing that I love about it is that it is so flavorful that it can make even tofu appetizing! I am struggling a bit with the percentage of salt as I try to reproduce some of the more traditional dishes that require fermented/preserved things, but there are a lot of easy dishes like your gorgeous meatballs, that only require a few simple ingredients. It’s a shame really that a few greasy Chinese (probably not very authentic either!) joints are giving Asian food a bad name. Looking forward to your Char Siu Pork recipe. One of my favorite dishes is using it to make the steamed buns. If you have some pork left over, I highly recommend them 😉

    Like

    Reply ↓

  16. It sounds like those gents made the same mistake many of my countrymen make, thinking that the food they get at a Chinese take-away is authentic. These meatballs sound terrific, Conor. Sounds like a great mix of flavors within each one. I was surprised to see pork chops used. I’ve not seen it used in this way before. (I hope you saved the bones. They’ll help make a wonderful tomato sauce.) Next to my stand mixer, my “mincer” is my most cherished kitchen appliance. My dishes got so much better once I took control of the meat being used. This was a great post. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • Thanks John,
      I have been chatting with two of my Chinese friends about these dishes. They has made some recommendations for more in the series. I am really enjoying their input as it does keep things real. The mincer (meat grinder) is good fun. My mum showed me a trick for cleaning it. One stuffs a couple of slices of bread in after the meat. When bread starts to come out the other end, all the meat is ground and most of the cleaning is done.

      Like

      Reply ↓

      • Oh that’s a great tip, you should put that in the article. One of the reasons I don’t use my mincer as much as I could is the pain I have in cleaning it. It is an industrial job that can do a couple of hundred kilos an hour so it’s a bit more of a job to get it set up etc.

        Like

        Reply ↓

  17. Pak Choy (or whatever its called) is my favourite green, and I like to braise them with icing sugar, ginger and soy sauce. I like the way you got the meatballs to go that colour – v impressive!

    Like

    Reply ↓

  19. I was kindly given a 1968 Kenwood ‘Chef’ by a friend. It occasionally smoked and smelt of burning electrics, but we have up-to-date electric breakers, so I decided it was ‘character’ and used it until it conked out recently. It’s now ornamental….

    Great dish this, I did some a little while back using Ken Hom’s bible as guidance. Simple and delicious like most ‘real’ Chinese food.

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • Yes Phil, they are a great device. I’ll bet you could get yours repaired. Funny, when the thing gets very old, we value it a lot. Mine makes a huge racket and rocks about while its doing its thing. I would never think of getting a new one.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  23. Okay, I’m a week late on this one (I was traveling, and had spotty internet access), but these meatballs deserve a hearty ROAR! Well done, Conor. Can’t wait to see the roast pork and stir fried noodles.

    Like

    Reply ↓

  24. Hi Conor
    Discovered your blog today through a mail shot from Glenisk, that BBQ lamb dish is going to get it next week as its outdoor cooking weather again here in Perth! For this recipe do you think I could whack the meat in the food processor?
    SJ

    Like

    Reply ↓

  26. Ok- I just flashed on seeing a cooking show in your future. call me crazy:)
    I love eating Chinese food but very rarely cook it at home. This is a good reminder you can enjoy the flavors and not get caught up in a mile long recipe with lard and MSG.
    Thanks. wt

    Like

    Reply ↓

    • I have never used MSG and really don’t see the need for it. It does enhance some flavours but one pays a big price in after-taste and general oddness. Fresh ingredients and a bit of care win out every time.

      Like

      Reply ↓

  28. Pingback: Conor’s Lions Head Meatballs! | Life in the Foothills

  29. Pingback: Musings on Recipe Formats… | Sybaritica

Join the conversation. Please leave a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.