Steamed Minced Pork with Salted Egg (咸蛋蒸肉饼)

This is a very simple dish but it is more than a common family dish because everyone likes it even kids. I think this is the simplest thing you can teach your kids when they first learn to cook instead of frying an egg because this involved no oil splashing that puts off so many beginners from cooking. Very simple, goes very well with steamed rice or porridge/congee, full of flavour and yes you can hardly find this in the restaurants!

Lets make it at home and if you have just upgraded to become a wife or mum, this is one of the dishes that you must learn up to impress your loved ones. Also if you are in the middle of planning for today's meal this could be one of it. ^^

Ingredients: (serves 2)

100g Minced Pork

2 Eggs

1 Salted egg

1/2tsp Light soy sauce

a pinch of salt

a dash of white pepper

Steps:

1. Wash away the clay that covers the salted egg. Crack the salted egg and separate the yolk and white in separate bowls.

2. In a bowl, add in minced pork, crack the 2 eggs in together with salted egg white, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Stir with a fork until combined.

3. Lightly oil a stainless steel plate, pour the meat mixture into the plate and place the salted egg yolk in the centre.

4. Prepare your steamer and bring the water to the boil. Steam the meat mixture in the steamer at medium high heat for 16-18 minutes. Check with inserting a chopstick or skewer at the thickest part. If the skewer comes out clean and no pink juices come out from the hole, it's cooked. Otherwise steam it for another good 2-3 minutes. Serve hot!

Tips:

• Use a wide plate so that the meat can be cooked evenly
• If you want to make a bigger portion just double the ingredients and steam for 22-25 minutes. Check using the skewer as mentioned in step 4.
• You can use ceramic plate but it takes 2-3 more minutes of steaming.
• You can also make this using a rice cooker. Place it on the steaming tray above your rice cooker when the rice is rinsed and ready to be cooked. Put on the lid, switch the cooker on and it should be ready when the rice is cooked. 

Steamed Minced Pork with Tian Jin Preserved Vegetable (Nanny's Recipe) 冬菜蒸肉饼（奶奶的食谱）

Tian Jin preserved vegetable is one of the most important ingredients in our kitchen because when you have nothing much in the fridge, you can make a big pot of yummy soup with some meat and preserved vegetable. Add this into the porridge (or congee) can easily enhance the flavour and it is so commonly used in many Chinese dishes. Steamed minced pork with preserved vegetable is one of my favourite mum's food and I can easily finish the whole plate of rice with this single dish.

The main ingredients of the dish are simple including minced pork, finely chopped preserved vegetable and seasoning. The common method is to combine everything, place in a plate to form a 1/2 to 1 inch thick meat cake and send it into the steamer. My mother like to make us our granny version which needs a little bit of frying before sending it into the steamer which pretty well keeps the juice and flavour in the meat after steaming. Here you go the recipe and you better prepare more steamed rice tonight just in case.

Ingredients:
(serve 3-4 people)

200g Minced pork

3tbsp Tian Jin preserved vegetable 

1tsp Oyster sauce

1tbsp Light soy sauce

1tsp Sesame Oil

1tsp water

1tsp corn flour

1/4tsp White pepper

a pinch of salt

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

1tbsp Cooking oil

Steps:

1. Soak the preserved vegetable in a bowl filled with about 200ml water for 15-20 minutes. Rinse at least 3 times to remove dirt. 

2. Pat dry the vegetable and chop into fine pieces.

3. In a large bowl add in the minced pork, chopped preserved vegetable, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of water, corn flour, white pepper and salt. Stir to mix everything together with a spoon. 

4. Press and shape the meat mixture into a half inch thick disc according to the size of your plate. 

5. Heat a pan with medium heat, add in 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Add in garlic and fry for about 10 seconds. 

6. Place the meat cake over the garlic and fry until it is lightly golden (beware do not burn the garlic) one side and turn it over. Try to scoop the whole thing including the garlic when you over turn it. 

7. Lightly oil the plate (steel plate is preferable as it is better in transferring the heat)  surfaces and place the meat cake on it (garlic side faces up).

8. Send it into the steamer and steam for 20-22 minutes over high heat. Remove from heat and serve hot.

before and after steaming

Tips:

1. Do not add any water to the meat cake after frying and before sending it into the steamer. Juices and excessive fat will come out naturally from the meat after steaming and that is the best sauce for your rice.

2. Do not over fry the meat to prevent drying out. Just check when the meat turn white and lightly golden then it is the best time to turn it over.

Steamed Durian Cake (蒸榴莲蛋糕)

Yes I know it is durian again, I might drive those durian haters crazy but yeah when it is the season you can smell durian everywhere. I made the durian ice cream the other day and people keep sending some free durians. We could not really finish all and my mother kept nagging there were two left in the kitchen. She said "go make some more ice cream or we will have to chuck them away which is a waste!". Although the ice cream was ace but we have had it enough so I tried to google some recipes for durians. 

Eventually I found this steamed pumpkin cake recipe which I think might work for durian as well! I modified the recipe a little and it turned out really nice. Not as strong flavour as the ice cream but it's really soft and yum. If you have bought some low quality durian or you have extra durians at home like me, you can make this. It is fairly easy and you can actually get the ingredients so handy!

Ingredients: (12inch baking tin)

5 Eggs

300g Castor Sugar

1tsp Salt

500g Durian paste (durian seeded and mashed with fork and spoon or blended in a processor)

200ml Whole milk

250g Vegetable oil

500g Plain flour

4tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Bicarbonate Soda

Steps:

1. In a large mixing bowl, add eggs, sugar and salt and whisk to mix everything together. When the mixture becomes thicken, add in durian paste and milk. Mix well.

2. Add vegetable oil into the mixture and whisk until incorporate. 

3. Sift all the dried ingredients (flour, baking powder and soda) into the mixture and whisk until everything combined. Use a spatula to stir and fold everything together (in case some ingredients are stuck at the sides or bottom).

4. Line the baking tin with baking paper or lightly oil the surfaces. Pour the batter into the mould and even the surface with spatula.

5. Send the cake into a steamer or a wok with boiling water. Steam the cake for about 50 minutes at high heat. Do not open the lid for checking until at least 40 minutes steaming. Therefore please make sure the water level is enough for the long steaming time. 

6. Check if the cake is cooked using toothpick or skewer to pierce into the centre of the cake. If the skewer comes out clean then the cake is cooked. Remove the cake from the steamer and let it cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.