CHINESE COOKING: This is a bit of "fusion" cooking, using a popular Italian ingredient of dried porcini mushroom to enhance the flavour of Chinese steamed pork.

STEAM PORK WITH PORCINI MUSHROOMS牛肝菌蒸肉餅:

 

 

 

 

300 gm. minced pork--store-bought or minced at home

40 gm. dried porcini mushrooms

dried scallops 3-4 pieces

2 pieces sliced ginger

1 tsp. cooking wine or dry sherry

seasoning:

    1 tbsp. light soy sauce

    1/2 tsp. sugar

    1/8 tsp. white pepper

    2 tsp. tapioca starch

    1/4 tsp. sal

    1 tsp. each cooking wine or dry sherry & sesame seed oil

    1 tbsp. oil

 

 

 

Soak mushrooms in warm water until softened. Rinse, strain, reserving soaking liquid, and finely chop mushrooms.

 

Put dry scallops in a pan filled with 1 cup of boiling water together with the ginger & wine. Cook at medium-low heat for 15 minutes to soften. Drain, reserving cooking liquid, and split scallops into threads when cooled.

 

Put minced pork into a glass dish that would fit into a bamboo steamer. Add in salt and soy sauce. Use a pair of chopsticks to mix the mixture together, in one direction only, until well mixed. Add in rest of seasoning ingredients, as well as mushrooms and scallops. Slowly add in 3 tbsp. each of mushroom-soaking liquid and scallop-cooking liquid, 1 tbsp. at a time, and continue stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding more. Scoop up pork mixture by hand; then dash it back into the glass dish. Repeat scooping  and dashing action a few times. This action ensures smoothness and gives a good texture to the meat & mushroom mixture.

 

Sit dish in the bamboo steamer fitted over a large saucepan of boiling water. Steam at high heat for 15 minutes to cook.