Prep Raw, Eat Fresh: Tuesday Meal recipes
Tuesday's menu: Lion's Head Meatballs · Garlic Shrimp with Enoki · Garlic Broccoli Lion's Head Meatballs with Edamame 狮子头青豆汤 | ⏱ Prep: 10 min | 🍽 Serves: 4 Steam from...
Tuesday's menu: Lion's Head Meatballs · Garlic Shrimp with Enoki · Garlic Broccoli
Lion's Head Meatballs with Edamame 狮子头青豆汤 | ⏱ Prep: 10 min | 🍽 Serves: 4
Steam from fresh: 20 minutes | Steam from frozen: 30 minutes
This is one of the great dishes of Chinese cuisine — enormous, cloud-soft pork meatballs that take their name from their appearance. When done, the meatball looks like a lion's head and the greens around it look like the mane. The collagen in the pork melts into the broth during steaming, creating a deeply savory soup at the bottom of the container that you should absolutely pour over your rice.
INGREDIENTS
• 1 lb (450g) master marinated ground pork (腌肉沫 450克, from Foundation 3)
• 1 cup frozen edamame (青豆 1杯 — green soybeans, NOT peas 豌豆)
• 2½–3 cups chicken stock or water (鸡汤或水, added at cook time)
• Salt to taste (盐 适量)
• Scallion (葱) for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Take the largest portion of master marinated ground pork
2. Wet your hands and form into 4 large meatballs — palm-sized, one per person
3. Place frozen edamame in the bottom of your container
4. Nestle the meatballs on top of the edamame
5. Seal and freeze
6. To cook from frozen: add chicken stock to the container, place in steamer
7. Steam on high for 30 minutes
8. At the 15-minute mark, add any vegetable dish to the upper rack — it will finish cooking alongside
9. Season broth with salt, garnish with scallion, serve immediately
Chinese Mom Tip: The liquid that collects at the bottom of the container after steaming is not just broth — it is collagen-rich cooking liquid from the pork. Spoon every drop over your rice. This is the best part of the whole dish.
Garlic Shrimp with Enoki and Glass Noodles 蒜蓉大虾 | ⏱ Prep: 12 min | 🍽 Serves: 4
Steam from fresh: 10–12 minutes | Steam from frozen: 12–15 minutes
This is the dish that gets the most compliments every single time. It looks like something from a restaurant — butterflied shrimp fanned out over white enoki mushrooms with golden garlic sauce pooling in every curve. The secret is butterflying the shrimp so the garlic sauce sits inside the meat and cooks into it from the inside during steaming. Do not be shy with the garlic sauce here.
INGREDIENTS
• 1 lb (450g) large shrimp (大虾 1磅), peeled, deveined, and butterflied
• 1 bag enoki mushrooms (金针菇 1包), roots trimmed
• 1 bundle glass noodles (粉丝 1把), soaked and well drained
• ½ cup corn kernels (玉米粒 半杯, optional)
• 4–5 generous tablespoons garlic sauce (蒜蓉酱 4-5汤匙, from Foundation 2)
INSTRUCTIONS
10. Soak glass noodles until soft, drain very thoroughly
11. Layer glass noodles in the bottom of your container, add corn kernels if using
12. Add a layer of enoki mushrooms on top of the noodles
13. Butterfly each shrimp: make a deep cut along the back without cutting all the way through, then press open flat
14. Arrange butterflied shrimp on top of the enoki, open-face
15. Spoon garlic sauce generously over each shrimp — get it inside the butterfly cut
16. Seal and freeze
17. To cook from frozen: place directly in steamer, steam 12–15 minutes on high
18. Do not overcook — check at 12 minutes, shrimp should be pink and just curled
Chinese Mom Tip: Butterfly the shrimp — do not skip this step. The garlic sauce needs to sit inside the cut and cook directly into the meat. Shrimp that are not butterflied will be coated on the outside only, which is completely different and much less delicious.
Garlic Broccoli 蒜蓉西兰花 | ⏱ Prep: 8 min | 🍽 Serves: 4
Steam from fresh: 8 minutes | Steam from frozen: 10 minutes
The most reliable vegetable in your whole week. Simple, fast, and consistently delicious. The key is the blanching — one minute only, then straight into ice water. This keeps the broccoli impossibly green and gives it a texture that holds up perfectly through freezing and steaming. The garlic sauce does the rest.
INGREDIENTS
• 1 large head broccoli (西兰花 1颗), cut into florets
• 3–4 tablespoons garlic sauce (蒜蓉酱 3-4汤匙, from Foundation 2)
• Salt (盐) for blanching water
• Ice water (冰水) for ice bath
INSTRUCTIONS
19. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
20. Blanch broccoli florets for exactly 1 minute — set a timer
21. Immediately transfer to ice water and let cool completely
22. Drain very thoroughly and pat dry
23. Arrange in your container and spoon garlic sauce over everything
24. Seal and freeze
25. To cook from frozen: steam 10 minutes. Add to steamer at the 15-minute mark of Lion's Head so both finish at the same time.
26. To cook fresh: steam 8 minutes
Chinese Mom Tip: One minute blanch — no more. More than one minute and the broccoli goes from vivid green to dull yellow and soft. Set a timer. Fish it out the moment it rings.