Chinese Steamed Pork Patty with Dried Anchovies 小銀魚蒸肉餅

It's one of those simple homey Chinese dishes that, in theory, seem like a breeze to whip up.  Which it is, really. I mean how hard is a dish like Chinese Steamed Pork Patty?  You just add some seasonings to the ground pork and steam it, right?  How easy is that?  Well, it turns out that Chinese Steamed Pork Patty is one of those tricky little dishes that is easy to make in a so-so sort of way and hard to make in a really good, tasty, lusciously melty sort of way.

We make Chinese Steamed Pork Patty for dinner quite often when we cook, it being a versatile kind of rice-killer dish that you can top up with all kinds of fun things like Chinese Salted Egg, Chinese Salted Fish or even Dried Anchovies (see photos above). 

And it is a great dish for simple dinners at home. But in our hearts of hearts we always thought that the texture could be better.  Lighter, fluffier.  We tried more fat.  We tried more cornstarch.  We tried different methods of salting.  We tried different methods of steaming.  

Uggh!  Nothing really worked...til now.  My hubby discovered an ancient Chinese method of preparing the ground pork.  A bit more time consuming...but wow, what results!  I couldn't stop stuffing my face with scoops of Chinese Steamed Pork Patty that night.  And washed it all down with two bowls of rice!  I could not even move after that dinner!  It was sooooo good!

So, naturally, wanted to share...

Chinese Steamed Pork Patty with Dried Anchovies Recipe 小銀魚蒸肉餅

(Prep time: 20 mins  Cook time: 20 mins)

Ingredients:

• 250 ground Pork, 50% fat
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbsp Shao Hsing Rice Wine
• Small handful dried anchovies, or whatever you want for topping
• 5 sprigs cilantro, lightly chopped

Marinade

• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp peanut oil
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp cornstarch

Directions:

Marinate the ground pork for 20 mins.  Add room temperature water in, 1 tbsp at a time, incorporating the water throughly each time by mixing in one direction only.  Keep adding water in same manner until the meat is very fluffy and light, almost pourable.

Add the Shao Shing Rice Wine and stir in. Pour onto the steaming/serving plate. Wash anchovies and arrange on the ground pork.  Steam over high heat for 20 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro and serve.

See our Chinese Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Fish recipe for a tweak on the chinese steamed pork patty.

Porkilicious Recipes at The Hong Kong Cookery:

Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Fish 鹹魚蒸豬肉餅

Pork Patty with Salted Fish 煎鹹魚豬肉餅

Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg 咸蛋蒸肉餅

Spareribs with Black Bean 蒜蓉豆豉蒸排骨

Sweet and Sour Pork Chop Onion 糖醋豬排洋蔥

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