China · Chinese

Crisp-fried vermicelli balls in sour-hot soup

A Luoyang water-banquet accompaniment: cooked sweet-potato vermicelli, chopped and bound with flour and starch, shaped into balls and fried gently until crisp, then served in a sour-hot soup with wood-ear, daylily and tomato. Public reference · home adaptation, not a historical original.

70 minutes · 4 servings · Moderate

Crisp-fried vermicelli balls in sour-hot soup

Public reference · Home adaptation Jiaozha wanzi is among the eight accompanying courses most often underestimated by visitors, described in public recipes as sour, hot, salty, savoury and fragrant with a crisp charred bite, often compared to crisp balls in a hot-and-sour soup. It shows the Luoyang habit of cooking from humble ingredients banquet-style: no meat, yet the look and the taste. Published menus record only the name; this version follows public recipe sources and is not a one-to-one match to that menu. **Name check**: Luoyang jiaozha wanzi is not a meatball. Public recipes consistently give sweet-potato vermicelli with flour and a little starch, so this version is lacto-ovo vegetarian and is clearly distinct from the pork-ball shengcuan wanzi served in the same banquet. The source stresses that the balls must be fried slowly to drive out the water before they turn crisp, and that quantities shift with how dry the vermicelli is; reference ratios for four are given here with that caveat. More flour than starch is the source's method, not an error. The sour-hot soup uses tomato in broth, as in the source, with the frying oil reduced to a workable home quantity. Not kitchen-tested. Contains wheat (flour), egg, soy (light soy) and sesame. The base is vermicelli, so this is lacto-ovo vegetarian rather than vegan; choose stock to match your own diet. Watch the oil throughout frying and keep the balls away from the pan edge to prevent splatter. 京细菜谱：焦炸丸子的做法 — The full method: soak and chop the vermicelli, soak the daylily and wood-ear; mix the vermicelli with egg, starch, salt, ginger juice and five-spice; shape and fry slowly to drive out the water; separately simmer broth with wood-ear, daylily and tomato, season, thicken with vinegar and starch, then add coriander and sesame oil. https://www.jxcaipu.com/recipe/h1a99658.html 大厨网：洛阳水席之焦炸丸子 — Ingredients: 200 g dried vermicelli, 180 g flour, ginger, salt, thirteen-spice, dark soy and water; the vermicelli is boiled, chopped and bound with flour, with the flour amount adjusted to how dry the vermicelli is. https://www.dachu.co/zh/recipe/381779 下厨房：洛阳水席里的焦炸丸子 — Vermicelli soaked 30 minutes then boiled 4 minutes, cooled and chopped, mixed with flour, water, seasoning and aromatics until tacky; shaped and fried at 60% oil temperature for 5 minutes low then 2 minutes high. https://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/106855008/ FDA: Food Allergies — Basis for declaring wheat (flour), egg, soy (light soy) and sesame allergens. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/food-allergies AI-generated illustration; not kitchen-tested.

Ingredients

  • dried sweet-potato vermicelli200 g
  • plain wheat flour120 g
  • cornstarch25 g
  • egg1 piece
  • cooking oil for deep-frying600 ml
  • ginger, minced10 g
  • five-spice powder2 g
  • dried daylily buds, soaked20 g
  • dried wood-ear mushroom, soaked and shredded15 g
  • tomato, cut into small pieces200 g
  • stock or water1000 ml
  • light soy sauce15 ml
  • vinegar25 ml
  • white pepper powder1 g
  • salt4 g
  • cornstarch for thickening12 g
  • coriander, chopped15 g
  • sesame oil5 ml

Directions

  1. 1

    Soften the vermicelli in warm water, then boil 4 minutes in fresh boiling water until fully translucent with no white core. Drain, rinse under cold water and chop finely.

  2. 2

    Combine the chopped vermicelli with the flour, starch, egg, ginger, five-spice and 1 g salt, adding a little water at a time until the mixture holds together, then rest 10 minutes. If the vermicelli is on the dry side, err on less water.

  3. 3

    Heat oil to about 150°C and squeeze balls about 3 cm across from between thumb and palm, lowering them in one at a time and frying slowly over medium-low heat 5 minutes until set and pale gold.

  4. 4

    Drain, then raise the heat and refry 1.5 minutes to drive off excess oil for a crisper shell. Stay with the pan; the oil must not get too hot.

  5. 5

    In a separate pan, heat a little oil, fry the ginger, add the tomato and cook over medium heat until it breaks down into a red broth, then pour in the stock and bring to a boil.

  6. 6

    Add the wood-ear and daylily and cook 3 minutes. Season with light soy, salt and white pepper, then thicken with the cornstarch slurry until the sauce coats the balls.

  7. 7

    Turn off the heat, add vinegar for the sour note and scatter coriander. Add the fried balls at the last minute and soak 1 minute; do not leave them in or they soften and lose their crunch.

Source: WorldBite · public-reference adaptation · Source-attributed editorial adaptation; AI illustration; not an authenticated original recipe.