Meatball and Celery Cabbage Soup
by
Yummy, and very very fast!
INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch celery cabbage (also called “Sui Choi,” or “Napa cabbage”)
1 pound lean ground pork
1/4 cup tapioca or arrowroot starch
2 tablespoons sweet white wine (or more!)
2 tablespoons wheat-free tamari sauce
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
8 cups chicken broth**
1-2 teaspoons salt
** Use your own (preferably made ahead!), or be really sure your purchased selection is “safe” for you
INSTRUCTIONS:
• Heat broth and salt to boiling in big saucepan.
• Chop celery cabbage up into bite-size (3/4-inch?) pieces.
• Add celery cabbage; return to boiling, and cook, uncovered, 2-10 minutes, depending on whether you like your celery cabbage crunchy or soft.
• Mix pork, starch, wine, tamari sauce, and white pepper together thoroughly.
• (*If you like to be particular, shape pork into balls, but I find they usually lose their fancy shape and become blobs anyway, so I just scoop off spoonfuls and drop them into the boiling broth as I go.)
• Add meatballs; heat to full boil again.
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer 2-5 minutes or until meatballs are done.
I usually serve over a scoop of medium-grain rice in the bottom of my bowl.
— Adapted by Erin Anne Beirne from a recipe in Betty Crocker’s New Chinese Cookbook, by Leeann Chin, copyright 1981. Available in the US at Amazon.com; and in Canada from Amazon.ca.