hello! hi everyone. Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to Asian fusion cuisine with a dish that I’ve been workshopping for the Woo Can Cook pop up for quite some time now, which is a Shanghainese lion’s head meatball sandwich, or “shi zi tou.” For those unfamiliar, a lion’s head meatball is a traditional Shanghainese classic most iconically made with larger, tennis ball-sized pork meatballs, then braised with bok choy and dark soy sauce, and finally served family style with rice. For those looking, not too long ago, we also did a traditional version of shi zi tou, but today though as you can imagine, a meatball sub like this one has…absolutely no business appearing in Chinese cuisine, the meatball sub originating of course from Italian American cuisine. 

So! For our version today, we’ll be using one of my very favorite combinations of sauces to create our deep and rich braising sauce, while also making a handful of small but very important adjustments to our dish today to accommodate our sub. Most particularly, this will include some adjustments to the size and shape of both our bok choy as well as our meatballs, plus a fun lesson in what happens if you don’t bind your meatballs properly that i learned...the hard way. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

  • 4oz water chestnuts

  • 6oz baby bok choy

  • corn starch slurry (2 tbsp corn starch dissolved in water)

  • hoagie rolls

  • peanut oil

INGREDIENTS (meatballs)

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

  • 4oz water chestnuts

  • 8 oz ground pork

  • 1 egg

  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumb

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 2 tbsp sesame oil

  • 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice

  • 1/2 tsp white pepper

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

  • 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

  • 2 tbsp shaoxing wine

  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

  • 1 tbsp black vinegar

  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce

  • 3 tbsp chili crisp oil

PREP

  • CRUSH and mince the garlic, then divide in half and set aside

  • FINE MINCE the ginger, then divide in half and set aside

  • SLICE the bok choy into thirds, set aside

  • MINCE the water chestnuts, set aside

  • COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside

  • COMBINE all meatball ingredients, then form into 1.75oz meatballs, set aside

ON THE STOVE

  • HEAT a wok over medium heat, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao

  • ADD the meatballs about 6 at a time, then sear for 2 minutes on each side until browned and remove

  • REHEAT the wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao

  • ADD the garlic and ginger, then bloom for 15 seconds until fragrant

  • ADD the bok choy and toss for 1-2 minutes

  • ADD the meatballs back to the wok and toss to combine

  • ADD the braising sauce plus 1/2 cup water and corn starch slurry and braise for 30 minutes

  • TOAST the hoagie rolls, then add the meatballs and serve immediately

 

tagged with lions head meatball, shi zi tou, meatball sandwich, meatball sub,s hanghainese food,c hinese cooking, chinese recipe, asian fusion, chinese fusion,f usion cuisine, bay area food, woo can cook