Chinese Lion Head Soup

In an attempt to make a hearty soup for dinner, I wanted to recreate something that I loved from one of my favorite restaurants, Hunan Cottage. My absolute favorite dish is their Lion Head Soup. Knowing that they probably use a great stock that I cannot imitate, I expected my soup (and the lion's head meatballs) to not be on par with theirs.

I Googled for a recipe and used the first one that popped up in the list because of the picture. You can judge a lot for recipes based on the picture. If it looks like what you want to make, try it. The picture for this recipe looked somewhat similar to the soup I usually have at the restaurant. I followed the listed ingredients and steps with a little alteration in the cooking style. Instead of boiling the meatballs directly in the soup, I fried them in a pan before adding them to the soup.

The end result? It was great! Granted, my lion head soup didn't have the same taste as the restaurant, the meatballs' texture and the napa soaking up the flavors were similar in that aspect. I was very satisfied with the results.


Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 egg
- Cooking (rice) wine
- Soy sauce
- 2 tsp Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce
- 1-2 tbsp cornstarch
- Chinese-style or plain chicken broth (I used about 2-3 spoons of powder and added it to the water)
- Napa or a smaller veggie similar to napa (about 4-5 pieces depending on size, chopped)
- Salt
- 3-4 sliced pieces of ginger, minced ginger for meatballs
- oil for frying the meatballs (I used less than inch of vegetable oil in a small pan)

Meatball mix:
- Add ground pork to a bowl.
- Add in egg, a dash of soy sauce and cooking wine. I didn't add it but you're supposed add minced ginger into the meat.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Add cornstarch and mix.
- If desired, add some salt and other seasoning, like chives.
- Shape into meatballs. I made mine about 1.5-2 inches in diameter so that it cooks better.

Directions:
- Heat a pot of water to boil.
- Add chicken broth, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, and sliced ginger. Add salt to taste.
- Let boil and scoop any scum off the top. Add veggies and let it boil at medium-high heat.
- Heat a pan with a lot of vegetable oil to fry the meatballs.
- Fry meatballs til browned on all sides. Then add meatballs into soup.
- Turn down heat to medium and let it stew for 15-20 minutes.

If you want, cook vermicelli rice noodles separate and add in.