"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body." - Benjamin Franklin


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Steam Minced Pork with Salty Eggs:

Since we are on the topic of “Eggs”, I am going to post this one back to back from my previous post, “Chinese Steamed Eggs”. This one is similar to the last dish except this one has meat and salty duck eggs added. As you all know, eggs are versatile and can be created in many forms. It all depends on your appetite and mood of the night.
There was an old Chinese saying, “this dish is meant for the poor”. Because of the salty flavor, family members will eats more rice (which is cheaper) and less meat. Due to poverty in China, some families can’t afford to have a varieties of dishes on the dinner table. They usually can afford a single dish to feed the entire family of eight. Therefore, this single dish has to be created more on the saltier side. The saltiness flavor comes from the salty duck eggs. Over the years, cuisine has evolved and passed down from generation to generation; now this dish has become so popular that it offered in almost every Chinese Restaurant across North America.

This dish is steamed and it’s no doubt an appetite enhancer. Families have their specific way of cooking this. Some like to add Century eggs due to personal preference. As for my family, I like to make it with normal eggs and salty eggs mixed with minced pork. Here is another tradition dish I want to bring into the Western families. It tastes great with plain steamed rice. Simple but delicious!

Ingredients;
·         4 chicken eggs
·         2 salty duck eggs
·         ½ pound extra lean ground pork
·         1 teaspoon fish sauce
·         1 teaspoon sesame oil
·         1 pinch of black pepper
·         A few cilantros (decoration)
·         1 teaspoon of corn starch

Preparations:

Empty the normal eggs in a bowl. Mix the lean ground pork evenly with the corn starch and spices together. The corn starch creates the smooth texture on the pork. Add the salty eggs at last. Bring the water to boil on separate pot with a cover. Once the water is boiled, put the plate of eggs in, cover it and steam it in high heat for 20 minutes. Place the cilantros on top for decorations.  

5 comments:

  1. I have not tried this before! Looks great! In my country We have some dishes, like history of that one! Some with a bread, garlic, water and cheese, and other ones with white cornmeal flour and eggs.
    Guess what? I love those dishes more than anything, because of it's amazing taste, they were mostly used in poverty; where people couldn't afford something more expensive! I enjoyed your post very much!

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  2. Well I forgot to say 'in country where I lived before'!:)

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  3. Thanks Sandra! Which country was that if you don't mind me ask? I can imagine it will taste so good with bread. The plain flavour of rice or bread will blend in perfectly with the saltiness.

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  4. I grow up in former Yugoslavia...and many many dishes stayed after WWII..where there was not much for people to choose. Interesting enough I love those food from that time..and when I was young my grandma would make something from her time as I would say..which kind of stayed with me as well!:))

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  5. That's so nice! Thanks for sharing Sandra - it's very interesting! :-}

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