Sunday, May 18, 2008

My cooking - steamed pork with pickled vegetable 炸菜蒸豬肉

I often take photos of dishes done by the others and forget take photos of my own made dishes. So this is my home cooking and my favourite too. It's also the first dish I learned when I was 9. All thru' the years, I still enjoy making it. The key to making it nice is to buy the classic pickled vegetable ("squeezed vegetable" in Chinese and actually it's a root part) from the big clay jar in the grocery. Choose the one with deep red chilli. Don't worry it's not hot and spicy. Then cut it into very thin slices. BTW, it does require certain skill in slicing and what we call "knife skill". If you cut it in thick slices, the aroma of the pickled wouldn't penetrate into the meat. Then soak the slices with water for about 5 minutes. Actually I don't count it. Then slice the pork. After done, drain the water of the pickled. Then put the sliced pork together. Put some sugar, sesame oil, slight soy sauce, little white pepper powder. Then use your hand (yes, of course rinse your hand first) and massage the meat into the pickled. This is the important part as the pickled aroma will get into the meat. Even squeeze the meat with the pickled. Then put some corn starch, massage it a little bit. Then put some oil and massage it to finish. Steam it in medium heat for about 10-12 minutes (depending on the size and your stove power). I usually put it in the rice cooker for steaming as the rice aroma will make the dish even nicer. So the ingredients is up to your preference. Remember not to steam it in high heat as it will make the meat dry out.

2 comments:

in the sea said...

BTW, why I don't put the corn starch and oil together with sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil...etc. is because when you marinate the food, you need to first marinate the food with the "tasteful" ones. Then the corn starch will act as a coating. The oil will cover the coating so that it will store the juice of the meat.

Stella said...

Please save all your articles here so you can publish a cook book later.
Look forward to more of your home cooking photos. These are so enjoyable, relaxing and educational. This is a bonus program to me on Sunday night.