Steamed Pork Cake with Salted Fish (咸鱼蒸肉饼)

Step 1

Chop the ground pork finely with knife or cleaver and transfer to a bowl. Add sesame oil, salt, white pepper, baking soda, Shaoxing wine, water, cornstarch, grated ginger, minced scallion, and water chestnuts (if using) to the meat. Use a fork and mix everything together vigorously until the pork mixture becomes sticky and smooth––almost like a paste. Set aside to marinate for 1 hour.

Step 2

Transfer the meat to a deep dish plate, forming a kind of thin patty. You must use a deep dish because liquid will pool in the bowl (it's almost like a thin broth or sauce, and it's great over rice!).

Step 3

Distribute the slices of salted fish on top of the meat. If you put a lot of fish on top, then you may want to eliminate or reduce the salt from the ground meat in the previous step. If you put only a few slices of salted fish, then the fish will likely provide enough salt for the dish. It’s definitely about personal preferences when it comes to how salty you like it!

Step 4

Spread the julienned ginger across the top of the meat and salted fish and then sprinkle the chopped scallion evenly over the top. Steam for 10 minutes starting with a pre-heated steamer. You'll see quite a bit of liquid in the plate after cooking. Turn off the heat and let the dish rest for 2 to 3 minutes. Some of that tasty liquid will be reabsorbed into the meat. Spoon the sauce over the top of your pork before servings and enjoy!