Sometime ago I was craving some steamed minced pork that my grandmother used to make for me as a child. I should’ve really asked her for the recipe, but then I thought I could do my own research and hopefully end up replicating the one that she made for me. So I did a few hours of research and in all honesty I couldn’t really find the same method of how my grandmother made it (although I really did believe that cooking this dish would have similar fundamentals).

I’m very limited on time when it comes to cooking dinner and I always try to find more paleo friendly recipes that matches well with a side salad. So I’m always looking for a recipe that’s quick and easy to make. I stumbled upon a recipe from foodelicacy.com that seemed delicious and easy to make. They size didn’t seem as large as the one my grandmother makes at home, but that was rather perfect since my bento boxes weren’t that large and these smaller sized steamed minced pork was the perfect portion.

It’s great that this dish isn’t only easy and simple to make, but it’s healthy and packed with good nutrition (BROTEIN)! It was stated that using lean meat will also make it more healthy, but like the website mentions: the natural fat in the pork meat will go a long way to make the patties tender and juicy. I usually like using lean meat because of the healthy aspect, but because these dishes are shared with my SO, I compromise at using 85/15% pork meat. The original recipe also called for chestnuts, but I ended up opting out of that since I wasn’t quite feeling the texture (it’s a little crunchy) that night as well as a few things like the salted radish and pickled cabbage (not a fan of).

Ingredients Needed:

• 300 g lean minced pork
• 2 shallots peeled, minced finely
• 1 clove garlic peeled, minced finely
• 1 2-cm length ginger peeled, minced finely
• 1 stalk spring onion finely chopped
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Once you mince and pour everything, place them in a bowl and mix thoroughly. After, crack in the egg to bind the ingredients together. It should end up feeling and looking like a sticky, mushy mixture after incorporating the yolk which helps bind the ingredients, you can shape it into a thin or thick patty.

We used smaller medium sized plates with indent layers in the center so the juices wouldn’t overflow over. We placed the patty in the center and placed them into the steamer. We timed it at 12 minutes as instructed and voilà, it was done! Simple as that! Be careful taking it out since the plates will be VERY hot. We taste tested and the flavors were amazing, not too salty and the meat was so soft and tender. It kind of almost melted in our mouths. It’s definitely a recipe I’d recommend trying if you want something healthy and not too time consuming to make during the week! 🙂