Ingredients

Units Scale

500 grams minced pork belly
100 grams shrimp paste (optional but recommended - just whiz shrimp meat in a blender)
30 grams stale white bread, turned into bread crumbs
10 minced water chestnuts, preferably fresh (peel them if fresh) or use top-quality whole canned
2 tbsp. garlic ginger juice (3 cloves of garlic and 1 cm of ginger, pound and extract the juices, save the solid remnants for the braised sauce)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce with mushroom flavoring
1 tablespoon light (aka regular) soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 egg
Few stalks of white portion of spring onion
Large pinch salt
Cabbage leaves
***
For Braised Sauce:
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup Shaoxing rice wine
2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
solid remnants of garlic ginger juice extraction
2 tbsp. crushed yellow rock sugar
Pinch of salt
Several large pinches 13 spice powder
5 Scallions cut into large pieces
1 cm ginger cut into large pieces
2 tablespoons cornstarch combined with 5 tablespoons of warm water
***
Garnishes:
Braised baby bok choy
minced green scallions
sesame seeds

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Instructions

Put the pork belly in the freezer until slightly hardened but not frozen, about 1 to 2 hours.
Remove the pork from the freezer and use a sharp knife to cut into 1/6-inch slices. Lay these slices on your board and cut them into 1/6-inch strips, then into tiny cubes the size of pomegranate seeds. (Traditionally, the leaner meat is cut into slightly smaller 1/8-inch pieces).
Pound the ginger and garlic and extract the juice. Set the solids aside for later use.
In a food processor, put the water chestnuts and white portion of the spring onion, process until chopped into small pieces. Remove and put into a very large bowl.
Add the minced meat and all other ingredients (including eggs, sugar, ginger and garlic juices and seasonings), blend until fine and mix vigorously, stirring in one direction with your hand. (Stirring in one direction so all the fibers of the meat line up makes the mixture very smooth.)
Keep slapping handfuls of the meat mixture hard against the bowl for at least 5 minutes (or more – the longer you stir, the better!), until the meat becomes springy and sticky in consistency, always continuing to stir in the same direction.
Shape the minced meat into 5cm diameter round balls of about 100 grams each. In order to force the air out, throw the meatball on the table and reshape again. This helps ensure a very springy meatball. Set aside for later deep frying.
In a pot, put the water, wine and all the seasonings (except the starch solution) for the braising. In general, the water should be able to cover at least ¾ of the height of the meatballs. Therefore, you will need to readjust the water and seasonings if necessary. Bring to boil.
Bring a pan of water to a boil and blanch the Chinese cabbage leaves and baby bok choy until floppy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Refresh the cabbage and bok choy in cold water, then drain and set aside.
In another frying pan, add cooking oil for deep frying. Test the readiness of the cooking oil by inserting a chopstick into the cooking oil and see if bubbles starts to emit.
Once the oil temperature is ready, put the meat ball and deep fried until the outside is golden brown. (Note that in this step, the deep frying is to fix the shape of the meatballs and not really to cook the meat ball.)
Once the meatballs turn golden brownish (about 5-10 minutes), transfer the meat ball into the hot boiling sauce on the other pot. Let it simmer at medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. Add additional water and oyster sauce if the sauce dries up too quickly. Remove the meatballs after 15 minutes and set aside. Remove any solids in the sauce and discard.
Now add most of the starch solution and off the heat stir the sauce until it turns transparent (about 1-2 minutes).
Give the remaining starch mixture a stir and use your hand to smear a thin layer around each meatball — this will give them a nice gloss.
Add the meatballs back in and combine carefully for 1 minute. Place a meatball on a frilly steamed cabbage leaf (the leaf is the “mane”) and garnish with blanched bok choy and more sauce + minced scallions and sesame seeds.

Prep Time: 0 hours
Cook Time: 0 hours