March 6, 2010

Steamed Pork with Salted Mustard

Sometimes I get this cooking bug and want to rush home to prepare a particular dish that inspires me at that moment. Today is one of those days! The dish that I've been craving for awhile is a dish from my childhood. It is a simple dish of minced belly pork with salted mustard and steamed to perfection. My mother would steamed a big batch of these to last for a week. She would hand minced it with a large cleaver while I washed and sliced the salted mustard. Salted mustard or "Mui Choy" in Cantonese is basically mustard greens picked with salt. There are two types of it, a sweet and other salty. The sweet type is light brown in color while the latter is darker in color. You can purchased them in most Chinese grocery stores. It is especially delicious with rice and the meat juices is great over hot steamed rice--(that's my opinion) :)
Ingredients:
1½ lbs. fresh side belly pork (with more lean meat)
200  gms. salted mustard (get the sweet type)
2 tsp. constarch
2 tsp. oil
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. Chinese rice wine
salt and pepper to taste
Steamer with trays
Deep pan or dish for steaming
Method:
1. Soak the mustard in water for for an hour. Spread open the leaves to remove dirt and sand. Rinse well to remove most of the salt and grime. Cut off some of the hard stems and chop finely. Do this in small batches. Set aside.
2. Wash and remove skin from pork. Slice in 1 inch pieces and using a larger knife, chop it alittle at time till it resembles like ground pork, but slightly thicker. You dont want to use ground pork as the texture will becomes mushy.
3. In a larger bowl, add meat, salted mustard, oil, sugar, wine, and cornstarch to combine to form a smooth ball. Fill a steamer with water, and bring water to a boil. Fill dish with meat halfway and put in steaming tray and cook for about 20-30 minutes till meat is cooked through. Note: It is ready when the meat has reduce in size and and not sticking to the dish.
Printable Recipe

No comments: