Four Joy Vegetable Balls
A Beijing-style vegetarian dish in which vegetable meatballs made from carrot, white radish, and potato are fried until golden, then braised and finished with a thickened sauce. The dish carries auspicious symbolism.
Ingredients
Carrot (peeled and boiled until soft, mashed into a paste)
80 g
White radish (peeled and boiled until soft, mashed into a paste)
80 g
Potato (peeled and boiled until soft, mashed into a paste)
80 g
Sweet potato (peeled and boiled until soft, mashed into a paste)
80 g
Silken tofu (drained of excess water)
200 g
Eggs
2
Water starch
25 g
Salt
5 g
Vegetable oil (approximately 100 g actually used)
1000 g
Ginger (smashed)
5 g
Scallion (tied into a knot)
5 g
Vegetable broth
100 g
Dark soy sauce
20 g
Sugar
5 g
White pepper
1 g
MSG
2 g
Shaoxing wine
10 g
Baby bok choy
10
Instructions
1
Step 1
Peel the carrot, white radish, potato, and sweet potato, then boil each separately until soft and mash into a paste. Combine with the drained silken tofu, eggs, water starch, and salt, and shape the mixture into 4 flat round patties about 12 cm in diameter. Deep-fry the patties in oil until golden brown and set aside.
2
Step 2
Smash the ginger and tie the scallion into a knot, then stir-fry them in oil until fragrant. Add the vegetable broth, dark soy sauce, sugar, white pepper, MSG, Shaoxing wine, baby bok choy, and the fried patties. Once the patties have absorbed the flavor, remove them and arrange the baby bok choy on a serving plate in a radial pattern. Place the four patties on top. Thicken the remaining sauce in the pan with a medium-thick cornstarch slurry and drizzle it over the patties before serving.
