Steamed pork patty with preserved mustard greens on rice
Sweet preserved mustard greens chopped into juicy minced pork and steamed until the juices run — a Hakka-style home classic made for spooning over rice.
- 35 min
- Serves 2
- Steam
- Easy
Why it suits you: Yang-deficient people feel the cold and have chilly hands and feet. The Summer Solstice may be hot, but air conditioning and iced drinks chill the digestion. Mustard greens whet the appetite, ginger warms the stomach, and steaming needs no fierce stir-frying — a hot plate of juicy pork over rice warms you right through.
Method
Prep 20 min · Cook 15 min- 1Soak the mustard greens for 15 minutes and rinse several times to remove grit and excess salt. Squeeze dry, chop finely and fry briefly with the oil and sugar until fragrant.
- 2Mix the pork with the soy sauce, cornflour, ginger and water, stirring in one direction until sticky, then fold in the mustard greens.
- 3Spread the mixture in a shallow dish, pressing it thinner in the middle. Steam over high heat for 12–15 minutes until cooked through, then scatter with spring onion.
- 4Blanch the choy sum and plate it, then serve the patty and its juices over the rice.
Cautions
- Preserved mustard greens are salty; if you have high blood pressure, soak them longer and use less soy sauce.
Chef's tips
- Press the patty thinner in the centre so it cooks evenly; beating in a little water makes it tender and juicy.
The TCM view
Preserved mustard greens are sweet and neutral, whetting the appetite, descending qi and generating fluids. Pork is sweet, salty and neutral, nourishing the kidneys and yin. Ginger is pungent and slightly warm, warming the middle and dispelling cold; choy sum eases the stomach; and rice tonifies the middle. Warm ginger, appetising greens and gentle steaming suit a yang-deficient digestion chilled by cold drinks.
