Steamed Ground Pork

A single pork patty steamed flat with an egg sunk into the middle.

Pork, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 500 g pork mince, not too lean
• 4 water chestnuts, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 5 tablespoons cold water, for beating in
• 1 egg
• 2 spring onions, sliced

Method

1. Put the mince in a bowl and beat it in ONE DIRECTION with chopsticks or a spoon, adding the cold water a tablespoon at a time. It will go from loose grains to a sticky paste after 4 or 5 minutes. Stirred back and forth it never gets there.
2. Beat in the soy sauce, wine, sesame oil, cornflour, salt, pepper and ginger, then fold the water chestnuts through. They are the only crunch in a dish that is otherwise entirely soft.
3. Press the mixture into a shallow heatproof dish in an even layer about 2 cm thick. ONE PATTY, not meatballs and not crumbled: it is a single slab and it is cut at the table.
4. Make a shallow well in the centre with the back of a spoon and crack the egg into it.
5. Steam, covered, over briskly boiling water for 18 minutes.
6. Check that no pink juice runs when you push the edge. Give it 4 more minutes if it does; the egg yolk should still be soft in the middle.
7. Scatter the spring onions over and bring the dish to the table whole.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes