Teochew beef meatball is one of the million famous, representative foods in the area; quick, home-cooking Teochew dish, especially in such cold winter always includes this radish meat ball soup. The slight hint of spicy taste from ginger, the soft radish and the chewy meatball are all in perfect combination that warms up both the body and heart in winter. Coming to the States, I have not found delicious Teochew beef meatball; well even back home in Guangzhou, it’s also hard to find meatball as good as in Teochew to be honest. In one restaurant, Porridge and Things in the Bay Area, their meatball texture surprised me and tastes really good! It turns out they made their own meatball and I bought a few bags right after dining there! Using their meatballs, I was able to make the beef meatball with radish noodle soup for the first time. The richness umami flavor from such simple ingredients and process surprised me!! I am proud to be a Teochew daughter!
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- dried shrimp and scallops are optional, adding them will definitely increase umami but also increase cost. AKA “Deluxe Version”
- radish should be cooked till preferred texture; cook in a short time, texture is too “crunchy”, cook too long, texture would be “mushy”.
RECIPE
- few dried shrimps
- few dried scallops
- ginger slices
- garlic slices
- scallion
- 100-200g radish
- 5-8 beef meat balls, OR MORE
- fish sauce
- (optional) Chinese celery
STEP 1: put dried shrimps and scallops in water to soften them, easy for cutting
STEP 2: slice ginger, chop garlic, cut scallion
STEP 3: peel radish and cut into chunks or slices
STEP 4: in a pan, heat up oil and stir fry ginger, garlic till ginger’s sweetness fragrance comes out, garlic becomes golden
STEP 5: add in chopped shrimp, scallops, stir fry till umami flavor comes out.
STEP 6: add in water, when it boils, add radish and cook till transparent.
STEP 7: add in meat balls (can also cut meatball into halves), cook for another 5-10mins.
STEP 8: in another pot, boil water and cook noodle of your choice; rinse noodle in cold water to increase elastic texture.
STEP 9: in radish, meatball soup, add salt and taste; add fish sauce in tsp quantity till the flavor is right.
STEP 10: put noodle in a bowl and pour radish soup on top! Add scallions and chopped Chinese celery on top.
READY TO SERVE!!
