Asian inspired soup with meatballs made with ground chicken and minced shrimp served in an aromatic broth made with star anise, ginger, soy sauce, peppercorns and yu choy.
Prep Time: 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 1 hourhour
Total Time: 1 hourhour15 minutesminutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients
6tbspoil
1poundground chicken
1lbshrimp
2garlic cloves, minced
2tbspgrated fresh ginger
3tbspfresh minced cilantro
3star anise
6peppercorns
2Thai chilies, sliced
1inchpiece of ginger, cut into 1/4 inch slices
12cupswater
4tbspsoy sauce
1bunchyu choy, baby bok choy or chinese lettuce, roughly chopped
8scallions(green onions, sliced)
Instructions
Peel the raw shrimp. Set the shrimp shells aside for later. Add shrimp to a food processor and pulse just until they are broken up and resemble the texture of ground meat. Depending on the size of the food processor, it may be necessary to do the shrimp in batches.
In a large bowl, mix together the ground chicken, ground shrimp, minced garlic, grated ginger and minced cilantro. Form into small 1 inch meatballs. While making the meatballs, it may be necessary to dip your hands in some cold water. This keeps the meat mixture from sticking to your palms and fingers.
Heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add 4 tbsp of oil to the skillet. Add the chicken and shrimp meatballs to the skillet. Let them cook for about 2-3 minutes before turning them. Let them get browned on each side and cooked through. They should be cooked in the skillet for a total time of about 8-10 minutes. Once cooked, remove them from the skillet and let them rest on a paper towel.
To make the aromatic broth, add the remaining 2 tbsp oil to a large saucepan on medium high heat. Add the peeled shrimp shells, star anise, peppercorns, thai chilies and ginger slices to the pan.
Let these aromatics bloom in flavor, stirring them often.
After about 4 minutes, pour in the 12 cups of water and soy sauce. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Let the broth cook for about 20 minutes.
Strain the broth and measure out 8 cups of broth.
Bring the 8 cups of broth to a boil. Turn off heat. Stir in the meatballs and bottom stalks of the yu choy. Let rest for about 4-5 minutes to heat the meatballs through and to soften the yu choy stalks. With about one minute left, stir in the leaves of the yu choy.
Serve in bowls and garnish with sliced scallions. Serve with sriracha or hoisin sauec, if desired.