Recipe: Steamed Pork with Salted Eggs

You know that one dish that reminds you of your childhood every single time? 

That at the sight, smell or even a mere mention brings you back to a time where things were simpler and happiness came effortlessly with every mealtime. 

For me, it has always been and always will be Mee Hoon Kueh and also this dish common to most Chinese Hakka families. 

The ingredients are simple. Even considered too cheap to be served in restaurants. You only need regular eggs, a salted egg and ground pork. And the beauty of it is that you can add as many eggs as you want, you can omit the salted egg if you want to dishonor Chinese tradition and your ancestors you do not like its acquired taste. 

You can buy minced pork from the market or you can mince it yourself. My grandmother used to mince her own pork and when done by hand, the texture of the final dish is superior to machine-ground pork. But you can always buy it pre-minced and give it a couple of thwacks with a giant clever. This would be very therapeutic after being stuck in traffic for hours give you a better mouth feel at the end.

The dish isn't pretty or very photogenic - I'll give you that. if you think it looks ugly now, you should see it after its steamed - pockmarked (pun intended) with craters and indentations. But this dish  was never meant to be pretty or look good on camera. This dish was meant to be quick, cheap and homely to feed ravenous grandkids. 

Mama always made too much of this. Or any other dish for that matter. Leftovers are amazing. The flavors develop overnight and it saves on cooking another dish the next day. As you can see, that is half a kilo of pork. I am making Mama proud. 

This is a dish very close to my heart. Lately, Mama hasn't been feeling well. I am hoping that when she gets better, I would have the opportunity to make this for her. 

Ingredients:

2 salted eggs (raw)

2 regular eggs 

500g ground pork (with fat for flavor)

1 1/2 tbsp corn starch

dash of white pepper

dash of sesame oil

pinch of salt

coriander, spring onion and garlic (for garnish)

1. Beat eggs with a fork, you might want to cut up the salted egg yolks to smaller pieces

2. Using a giant meat cleaver (small ones won't work - I kid), mince the pork slightly with corn starch, salt, pepper and sesame oil.

3. Mix egg mixture together with pork.

4. Steam on high heat for 20-25 minutes.

5. Garnish with spring onion, coriander and garlic oil.

6. Serve immediately with white rice.

I hope you make this soon. It's amazing how something this simple can make one so so happy. 

Happy steaming.