Steamed Pork with Salted Eggs (咸蛋蒸猪肉)

This dish takes me right back to my childhood, and is a comforting meal accompaniment to soft, fluffy rice. Most nights, we would have our rice in bowls, then separate dishes of meat, fish and veg to pile on top of the rice. However, this is one of the few meals where you should empty your rice from bowl to a large dish, help yourself to a generous portion of the pork and egg, then mix it all thoroughly, and enjoy with some stir-fried or boiled green veg.

The methods seem a bit fiddly, but they are worth the effort - the secrets to this dish are pack a small amount of meat as loosely as you can in the bottom of the dish, to use as fresh eggs as possible, and to use cooled boiled water to mix with your eggs. The aim is to get as smooth and glossy a finish as possible on your egg. I added some ground white pepper to my egg mixture, but I think this detracts from the appearance.

Salted duck eggs are available in every Chinese supermarket. I've just used the last egg which was given to me by my parents, who salt their own. One day I will get around to salting a large jar of these myself!

Ingredients

• Approx 250g pork mince
• Thumb-sized piece of raw ginger, peeled
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• Generous sprinkle of ground white pepper
• A generous lug of sesame oil
• (1 or) 2 salted duck eggs, both yolks but the white of only one
• 2 hen's eggs, as fresh as you can
• Cooled, boiled water 
• Splash of light soy sauce
• Drop of sunflower oil

Serves 3-4

Instructions

• Grate the ginger finely and squeeze the juice over your pork mince. Add the cornflour, 2-3 good lugs of sesame oil and a sprinkle of white pepper. Mix the whole lot thoroughly, cover and leave to marinade in the fridge for 20 minutes or as long as you can (I left mine overnight)
• Place the pork into the bottom of a steaming dish, and fluff it and spread round the base loosely. If you compact it, it will shrink and get hard during cooking
• Take the two salted duck egg yolks and slice each in half. Lay the half-yolks on top of the pork mince. Place the dish into a wok or steamer over water, and steam for 10 minutes.

Pork and duck yolks after 10 mins steaming

• Meanwhile, make your egg mixture. Place the white of one of the duck eggs into a bowl. Add the two hen's eggs and 2 parts cooled boiled water per 1 part hen's egg - so I added 2 hen's eggs, then used the half-egg shell to put in 8 measures of water. Add a drop of sunflower oil
• Combine the egg mixture gently, trying not to create too many air bubbles. Pour over the top of the pork mixture, cover and steam for approx. 10 minutes. If your water/egg ratio is wrong, or if you steam for too long, the egg will go rubbery and matt in appearance and texture
• You can tell the egg is ready by poking it with a chopstick or spoon - when it is no longer liquid, remove it from the steaming rack.
• Pour over a splash of soy sauce and serve

The white pepper spoiled the appearance somewhat

Steamed pork with salted eggs