【Yangzhou】Stewed Lion Head
Overview
Stewed lion head is a traditional famous dish of the Han people in Jiangsu and belongs to Huaiyang cuisine. The taste is soft, fat but not greasy, and rich in nutrients. Braised in braised or steamed, it is a popular dish. As someone who has lived in Yangzhou for a long time, I am very familiar with Lion Head. Every time I go back to my husband's house during the Chinese New Year, my mother-in-law will not only prepare a large table of dishes, but also stew a large pot of fragrant lion's head. However, for people who don’t know much about lion heads, they often think that lion heads are just large meatballs, but this is not the case. Yes, it does look like a big meatball at first glance, but once you taste it, you will realize that the difference between them is not only in appearance, but also in texture and taste. In terms of cooking, lion head is relatively particular. First of all, the meat filling for making the lion head is not minced by a machine, but chopped by yourself, first finely and then coarsely. The final shape of the meat filling must be in the shape of granules, not pureed meat. In this way, when you enter the mouth, you will clearly feel that the texture of the meat will be more distinct. Then, it is slowly simmered over a slow fire to make the protein in the meat become extremely delicious. When you finally eat it, it feels loose but not loose, fresh and delicious, and has a melt-in-your-mouth feeling. Although this was the first time I made the lion's head, it was very delicious. Even my husband, who refuses to eat fatty meat, raved about it and ate several of them in succession.
Tags
Ingredients
Steps
-
Prepare ingredients
-
Peel and wash the pork leg, first cut into strips, then cut into pieces as big as pomegranate seeds, and finally chop a few times
-
Peel, wash and chop the lotus root (small particles are enough), you can also use water chestnuts or bamboo shoots
-
chopped green onion, minced ginger
-
Pour 20g water into 10g corn starch and mix thoroughly
-
Put the minced pork and lotus root into a larger container, and add salt, chopped green onion, minced ginger, eggs, and white pepper. Finally, mix the water starch evenly and pour in
-
Stir the meat filling in one direction with your hands and beat the meat filling from time to time. If the meat filling is relatively dry, you can add an appropriate amount of water, but not too thin to prevent the lion head from forming easily
-
Stir until the meat filling is slightly sticky. Do not use too much force, otherwise the lion head will be hard and the taste will not be good
-
Pour half a pot of water into the casserole, then heat the water to about 50 degrees and turn off the heat (this will help the meatballs to quickly set their shape after being put into the pot and prevent them from falling apart). Grab some meat filling and use your hands to form it into a round and smooth lion head, then gently put it into hot water (the water should cover the meatballs)
-
After all the lion heads are done, cover the lid and turn on medium heat. After the pot is boiled, turn to low heat. At this time, the lion heads have been shaped and have some hardness. You can use chopsticks to gently push the bottom to prevent the lion heads at the bottom from sticking to the pot
-
Skim off the foam again
-
Pour in the cooking wine and 1 box of special soup pot for stewing (you can leave it out if you don’t have it)
-
Cover the pot, turn to the lowest heat, and simmer for 2 hours
-
While stewing the lion's head, you can do something with the cabbage heart: wash the cabbage, blanch it in water for one minute, soak it in cold water for a while and take it out (this can make the color of the cabbage greener)
-
When the stewing lasts five minutes, add the wolfberry berries and continue to simmer until the end of the time
-
Finally, add the green cabbage hearts and turn off the heat
-
Serve it out and enjoy it slowly
