Chinese steamed pork hash

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground pork, roughly minced
1/2 cup of water chestnuts, finely diced (about 2.5 ounces)
1 T preserved turnips, finely diced
1 T light soy sauce
1/2 T sesame oil
1 t chicken bouillon powder
1 t cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 inch cut of salted fish (or 3 slices of anchovies), chopped into tiny pieces

In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, water chestnuts, preserved turnips, soy sauce, sesame oil, chicken bouillon, cornstarch and water. Make sure all the ingredients are blended together, then pour onto a rimmed plate to steam. Flatten the pork evenly to the edge of the plate. Then sprinkle the top with the bits of salted fish.

Place the plate of pork in a steamer. If you don’t have one, create a steamer using a large pot or wok and placing a metal stand in the center. Steam the pork cake covered over medium heat for about 20 minutes (maybe longer if your pork cake is thick). To check to see if the pork is cooked, stick a knife into the pork cake to see if there are any pinkish pork meat in the center. If there is, cook for a few minutes longer.

When done, remove pot from the heat. Slowly tip the plate to let excess water to drain into the pot. Then carefully remove the plate from the steamer, serving immediately. Eat with steamed rice and braised greens like gai lan.

TIP: My Mom uses a teaspoon of tapioca flour that helps the pork hash be fluffy and light. But if you can’t find tapioca flour, you can use the cornstarch like I did.