Shanghainese lion’s head meatballs (shi zi tou)

Shanghainese lion’s head meatballs are one of my dad’s favourite foods, and this recipe was originally my great-grandmother’s, on his side. My dad missed these so much when our family moved [to the United States] that he learned to cook just to make them – they’re that good. The meatballs are first fried briefly, then steamed for longer over an impossibly tall pile of bok choy, so that the oil and juices from the meatballs lend a savoury-sweetness to the bok choy underneath as it cooks down.

It’s almost hard to call them ‘meatballs’ because that connotes spaghetti and boldly herbed, strong-textured balls of ground [minced] beef – this isn’t that. This is soft and comforting home-style food the kind that feels like your grandmother’s hug.