For the Love of...: ...Lions Head Stew

The traditional Lions head stew gets its name from the mane-like appearance of the ribs of the cabbage as they slowly braise over deep fried pork meatballls. My version is a bit different. Instead of shaping the pork into meatballs and laying the cabbage over top to braise, I stuff the filling into the leaves and reconstruct the head of cabbage.

Ingredients: - 1lb Ground pork
- 1 head of cabbage
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup of panko bread crumbs
- 4tbs soy sauce
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 tbs sesame oil
- 2 tbs corn starch
- 1 tsp 5 spice poweder
- 2 tbs oyster sauce
- 4 tbs cilantro chopped
- 3 medium carrots
- 1.5 cups chicken stock
- 18inch x 18inch sheet of cheese cloth

Method:
1. Remove as many of the outer leaves of cabbage as possible without tearing them. Blanch in a large pot of boiling water for 1 minute, strain and cool in cold water. leave to dry on a clean tea towel

2. Finely chop the remainder of the cabbage and saute in 2 tbs of canola coil with the chopped onion until soft and browned

3. combine the ground pork with soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, sugar, five spice powder, oyster sauce eggs, cilantro, panko bread crumbs and cooled cabbage and onion mixture

4. with a sharp knife remove the centre rib of the blanched cabbage leaves. Arrange the leaves into a large circle over the cheese cloth. Spead a thick layer of the pork mixture over the cabbage leases. Repeat layers of pork and cabbage until you have used up all of your ingredients

5. Tie the opposing edges of cheese cloth together tightly to reform the cabbage into its original shape

6. Place the reformed cabbage into a heavy bottomed pot. Add carrots and chicken stock, cover and braise in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours

7. Remove the cabbage head and cut away the cheese cloth. Cut the cabbage/pork into wedges and serve over rice with the carrots and braising liquid

Enjoy!