Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetable

One of my favourite, most comforting and homely dishes when I was a kid was a steamed pork dish my grandmother would often make. Strangely I never got round to making it until now but now that I have, I know it'll be a regular dish.

The minced pork is marinaded briefly and is studded through with salty shards of preserved cabbage to season the dish. Lily buds provide an interesting texture contrast, and a hint of herb about it. After steaming, you are left with an amazingly porky juices to spoon over some plain steamed rice. It's much like a meatloaf and any leftover works well sliced up and crumbled in brothy soups or chopped into fried rice. Both the Tianjin preserved vegetable and the dried lily buds were bought from my local Chinese supermarket.

Steamed Pork with Preserved Vegetable

Serves 4 as a multi-dish meal

500gr minced pork
2 tbsp Tianjin preserved vegetable
A handful of dried lily buds
2 cloves garlic
1" ginger
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 spring onion
1/2 tbsp cornflour
3 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 tsp sesame oil

Firstly, soften the lily buds and shiitake mushrooms in some hot water. Rinse the preserved vegetable to get rid of some of the salt and chop. Add to a large bowl with the pork mince. Finely mince the garlic and ginger and add to the bowl along with the lily buds, rice wine, soy sauce, pepper and the spring onion, also chopped finely. Slice the softened mushrooms and throw that in too along with the sesame oil. Combine well (I used my hands), giving it a good squidge and then add the cornflour, also combining well. Leave to marinate for half an hour.

Put a pot of water on and pack the meat into a bowl. Place in your steamer and steam for 40 - 45 minutes until cooked all the way through. Serve with a vegetable dish, spooning the juices over some plain rice.