Barley Beer Beef Soup Recipe from Tibet

I couple of days ago I went outside for my morning coffee wearing shorts and sandals but I had to immediately run back inside my apartment to put on warmer clothes and grab an umbrella. The weather has been pretty warm in NYC lately (the first day of summer is one week away!) but I took the opportunity of the rare chilly weather to cook one of my favorite soups for dinner: Barley Beer Beef Soup. It’s the perfect soup to eat on a drizzly day.

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Lucky Year of the Dragon Recipe: Tangerine Beef

The Year of the Dragon is upon us! Coinciding with the lunar calendar, Chinese New Year starts today and celebrations will go on for the next 15 days all over the world. Mary Kate and I were really excited when our friend Jaden Hair asked us to write a guest post over at TLC's website for Chinese New Year. If you're not familiar with Jaden and you like eating, you should be. She's the behind the deliciously steamy Steamy Kitchen website and one of the hottest women in the food industry. We've been fortunate enough to meet her in New York where she hosts the NY Dumpling Festival every year and to cook a meal with her and her family at her beautiful home in Florida.

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lion's head meatballs (shizi tou) for thanksgiving

I just finished off the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers. Last Thursday some friends came over to Mary Kate's apartment and cooked a turkey, cornbread stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Mary Kate made a Paula Dean recipe with macaroni, cheese, potato chips, and bacon. I made cranberry martinis (keeping it festive) and Chinese Lion's Head Meatballs or 狮子头 (shi zi tou). We all did the required stuffing of our faces and then crashed in the living room and to watch the movie The Brother's Bloom (none of us would recommend watching).

The Lion's Head Meatballs I made are traditionally very large (about the size of a baseball) and are served with one meatball on a bed of cabbage which is supposed to look like a lion's head and his mane. I can kind of see the resemblance if I squint. For Thanksgiving I decided to keep it simple and make small meatballs that would fit better on a plate crammed with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and everything else. They turned out really good and I actually like the smaller size better. To make the meatballs you just quickly mix together the pork and other ingredients, form into 2-inch diameter balls, fry in a wok for 2 minutes, and then let the meatballs simmer in chicken stock for half an hour with the greens. They come out of the pot tender and gingery. I've seen them made with garlic and even oyster sauce but I think the simpler the better. Mary Kate mentioned how similar they taste to the pork filling in Chinese Soup Dumplings and she's right, the ingredients are basically the same. If you're going to make a meal of them, serve the meatballs with white rice to soak up all the good soup broth.

-Nate

The meatballs before frying.