【Shandong】Sixi meatballs

Overview

Sixi Meatballs is one of the classic dishes of Shandong cuisine. It consists of four meatballs with good color, aroma and taste, which embodies the four happy events of life: happiness, wealth, longevity and happiness. It is often used as the finale dish at wedding banquets, birthday banquets, Spring Festival banquets and other banquets to take its auspicious meaning. It is said that Sixi Meatballs were created in the Tang Dynasty. One year, the imperial court held examinations, and students from all over the country flocked to the capital, including Zhang Jiuling. As a result, Zhang Jiuling, who was dressed in shabby clothes, won the first place. The emperor appreciated Zhang Jiuling's intelligence and recruited him as his consort. At that time, Zhang Jiuling's hometown was suffering from floods, and his parents had left their hometown and had no news of them. On the day of the wedding, Zhang Jiuling happened to learn the whereabouts of his parents, so he sent someone to take them to the capital. Adding to the joy, Zhang Jiuling asked the chef to cook an auspicious dish to celebrate. When the dish arrived, it turned out to be four large meatballs that were deep-fried, steamed and topped with soup. Zhang Jiuling asked about the meaning of the dish, and the clever chef replied: This dish is "four circles". The first happiness is that the master is named in the list; the second happiness is that he gets married; the third happiness is that he becomes a son-in-law who can ride a dragon; the fourth happiness is that the family is reunited. Zhang Jiuling laughed loudly after hearing this and praised it repeatedly, saying: "Siyuan" is not as loud and nice as "Sixi", so let's just call it "Sixi Wan". Since then, this dish has been a must-have at banquets for major celebrations such as weddings.

Tags

• hot dishes
• home cooking
• aniseed
• cooking wine
• edible oil
• egg
• flour
• garlic
• green onions
• light soy sauce
• msg
• meat filling
• pepper water
• rapeseed
• starch
• white sugar
• zanthoxylum bungeanum
• ginger
• salt
• soy sauce

Ingredients

Steps

1. 1 Stir the pork into puree, add pepper water, cooking wine, soy sauce, light soy sauce, minced ginger, add eggs, starch, flour, and MSG and beat vigorously

   

2. 2 Make four large meatballs

   

3. 3 Put more cooking oil in the pot. When the oil is hot, add the meatballs and fry until golden brown

   

4. 4 Remove the drying oil and set aside

   

5. 5 Add oil to the bottom of the pot, add sugar and when it bubbles and turns yellow, add aniseed, Sichuan peppercorns, add onion, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant

   

6. 6 Add water, soy sauce, adjust the mouthfeel, bring to a boil over high heat, and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes until the soup thickens

   

7. 7 Clean the rapeseed and blanch it in a pot of boiling water

   

8. 8 Place the meatballs on a plate and pour the soup on them