🍽️ Open-Pot Meatball

Taro-starch meatballs steamed, Hakka banquet.

Open-Pot Meatball is a traditional Hakka banquet dish from Meizhou, Guangdong, seldom missing at festivals, weddings and birthday feasts. Pork, preferably from the front leg, is diced and mixed with tapioca starch, diced shiitake, dried shrimp, scallion and a little salt, then rolled into balls, set on lotus leaf or beancurd stick and steamed over high heat. Each ball is wrapped in a translucent starch coating with a springy, bouncy bite; inside, the meat is tender and juicy, the savor of mushroom and dried shrimp soaked through, and a faint lotus-leaf aroma lingers. Hakka cooks rely on hand chopping and the right starch ratio for that bounce. Often brought to the table straight from the steamer and shared hot, it is the homeliest item on a Hakka platter and a hearty rice dish, reflecting the generous, down-to-earth Hakka way of hosting.