Lione's Head 蝦籽獅子頭

Lion's head is what Chinese call meatballs because the way they look.  The most famous is made with the precious fresh water crab roes in the fall.  Chinese crabs are not imported to Canada and it is still spring so I made these with shrimp roes instead.  The roes are dried and look like reddish brown poppy seeds.  I toasted the roes light first.  The trick of making a good lion's head is in the mixing.  Seasonings are simply and basic, just scallion, ginger, sugar and soy sauce.  The technical part is to mix the meat in the same direction while adding water until it is saturated but not overflowing with water yet holds together well.  Shaped and fried before slowing cooking them in water, sugar, soy sauce, shaoxing  wine, for a couple of hours.  Since I was using shrimp roes already, I figured why not use some dry shrimps and shiitake mushroom too?  In they went also.  The result is even better then expected.  What they like to say in hip restaurants these days...?  Oh, yeah, umami bombs, and those they are.