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1
Place ginger and scallion in 1/2 cup of water. Bruise with a pestle or spoon. The water should become slightly green and smell like ginger. Remove outer leaves from escarole heads. Lay them on the bottom of a large dutch oven or heavy pot.
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2
Add eggs, wine, salt, cornstarch, pepper, water chestnuts, and ginger/scallion water (reserve the ginger and scallion) to pork in a large bowl. Stir with your fingers in one direction (never reverse the direction). Once it has become a uniform consistency, take the meat in one hand and throw it back into the bowl. Repeat this for 2-3 minutes. The meat mixture will be sticky.
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3
Heat oil in a nonstick pan. Dust hands well with cornstarch and form a meatball. Place into hot pan. You will want 8 meatballs total, dusting hands well with cornstarch in between. Brown meatballs evenly on all sides. Brown in batches if necessary to prevent crowding. As they are done, place each on top of the bed of escarole in your dutch oven.
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4
Cover meatballs with additional leaves of escarole. Add chicken stock. It should almost cover meatballs. Throw in the ginger and scallion that you used in the first step. Cover pot.
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5
Stew on the stove on low heat or in a 325 degree oven for 1-2 hours. Check the liquid and add additional water if needed. If your pot lid doesn't fit tightly, cover with foil first. Try the meatballs after an hour. If they aren't tender enough, cook them longer.
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6
While the meatballs stew, make the crisped shiitakes. Heat a nonstick pan to medium high. Add shiitakes and a small amout of oil. Add a pinch of salt. Toast in the pan until they mushrooms shrink, brown and the edges crisp up. Turn off heat and leave in pan.
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7
After stewing, bring pot back to the stove top. Check the seasoning of the broth and add salt, pepper, or soy sauce to taste. Add rest of escarole and let wilt in soup for about 5-10 minutes (roughly chop tougher stem ends first). Remove the greens to serving bowl(s), then top with meatballs. Sprinkle shiitakes on top. Serve with rice.
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8
Note: For the traditional version, use napa cabbage instead of escarole. Add it all at the beginning if you like a melted texture or near the end for a more firm cabbage texture. Omit water chestnuts and shiitakes.
