Lotus root meatballs are very simple to make and a nice variation on the typical meatballs found in Western dishes. The lotus root pieces give a nice crunchy bite to the meatballs and a little ginger makes it taste fresher. Full recipe below
Lotus root meatballs (pingyin: ou wan, chinese: 藕丸)
Ingredients:
- 1 lotus root
- equal amount of minced pork meat
- little bit of spring onion (spoon)
- 1 egg
- little bit fresh ginger (teaspoon)
- few tablespoons flour
- salt, cooking wine, chicken powder (stuff to make chicken soup), light soy sauce
Prepare:
- peel the lotus root, wash the sand off and chop it very fine into pieces a few mm and put in a bowl
- chop a little bit of spring onion fine and add
- also very finely chop a little bit of fresh ginger and add it
- mix in the minced pork, whole egg
- add salt, tiny bit of cooking wine (not too much, because it becomes too wet), chicken powder and light soy sauce (tiny bit)
- add any kind of flour to make the dough a little bit dryer and more sticky
Cooking:
- Best use a flat pan, because the meatballs tend to fall apart easily
- heat the oil, and add the meatballs in
- bake till golden brown on one side and turn over
- only takes a few minutes per meatball
Lotus root, after peeling the outside with a fine-peeler and washing. Use one of these pieces for this dish
Mincing the lean pork meat. In the bowl we added the minced lotus root, a little bit of spring onion and ginger. Using two knives to mince the meat is just for show 😉