‘Lion’s
Head’ meatballs (we called it ‘Shi Zi Tou’ 獅子頭 in Mandarin) is a classic dish in my Taiwan’s family particularly to
be served as celebration meal for Lunar New Year. Basically they are large-sized
pork meatballs stewed with Chinese leaves, the meatballs taste super tender and
succulent with flavourful broth. To be honestly it’s not difficult to make it
from scratch with pork mince, but this time I decided to go on a shortcut by using Waitrose soya balls because I need to stay vegetarian on Lunar New Year’s Day,
I want to test the recipe ahead to see if soya meatballs also work.
Except
these soya meatballs are not lion’s head size, they are actually quite good for
recreating this new year’s celebration dish. Furthermore, they are totally
vegan. One thing I should have noticed is I should put a head of Chinese leaf
rather than just peeling 5-6 pieces leaves to stew as it turned out so little
vegetable to be served on the plate in the end.
Ingredients
–Waitrose vegan soya
balls.
-Chinese
leaf, quartered lengthways.
-3
cloves of garlic, chopped.
-Salt
and soy sauce to taste.
-Chopped
spring onions and fried onions to garnish.
-Sesame
oil to season.
Method
-Oven
cook soya balls from frozen. (follow the cooking instruction on the package.)
-Heat
oil in a pan over medium heat, add garlic and stir fry until fragrant.
-Add Chinese
leaf and stir fry until soften and watery.
-Add
salt and soy sauce, simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes.
-Place
soya balls in, cook for a further 5 minutes.
-Garnish
with spring onions and fried onions, season with sesame oil.
沒想到這周就要迎接農曆新年了，從上周就已經開始在構思新年要煮甚麼好(也算是超前佈署？)，因為初一要吃素所以打算先來「試菜」，想到冷凍庫還有上次超市買的素肉丸，於是就拿來做成獅子頭看看搭不搭；素肉丸我還是有先烤好最後再跟滷好的白菜一起燉煮5分鐘，雖然是有點偷吃步的作法，但意外的還是很成功呢。
