Steaming your meats is a great quick and healthy way to cook your proteins - and is often cooked for ladies recovering from child birth during confinement. This dish takes inspiration from a Cantonese Pork Cake recipe I found online, I simply used minced chicken instead of pork.
Use your sauces sparingly, and procure the freshest ingredients to ensure this dish is healthy and fresh for you and your family. My husband was not impressed with how bland and boring it looks, but you'll be surprised at how flavourful and comforting this dish is! I literally CRAVE this with a hot bowl of white rice!
Recipe feeds 2 persons.. 5 minutes prep time, total cook time 45 minutes (incl. marination)
INGREDIENTS
For mixing
250g minced chicken
½ teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1 spring onion, chopped
Dash of baking soda
Salt and white pepper to taste
For garnish before steaming
3cm wedge of salted fish, cut into thin slices and fried until crispy
2cm fresh ginger, thinly julienned
1 spring onion, chopped
1 red chili , thinly sliced
DIRECTIONS
Fry the thinly sliced salted fish until crispy and golden brown. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the 250g minced chicken, ½ teaspoon sesame oil, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water, 1 chopped spring onion, pinch of of baking soda, salt and white pepper. Set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Place the meat in a deep metal dish that's ideal for steaming, gently forming a sort of patty. Liquid will be released during the cooking so using a deep dish is important, do not use a plate!
Arrange and distribute the fried salted fish, thinly sliced ginger, spring onion and chili on top of your patty.
Steam for 10 mins in a pre-heated steamer. I used an old school steamer that used to belong to my grandma.
After 10 minutes, you will notice a liquid sauce that has formed in your bowl. Let the patty sit for 2-3 minutes before serving so that it can absorb all that juice! Serve hot with a bowl of white rice!
ALY'S COOKING TIPS
Use a dish that's shallow but deep enough to hold the liquid that will be pooled when you steam your meat. This juice comes from the chicken - you will notice that it will be a little oily. Don't worry, this is all flavour and it comes from the natural fat of the chicken!
This dish is super versatile, you can add more or less or any ingredient when making the chicken mixture. I normally add some chili padi in there too because I love things spicy. Just remember that less is more for this recipe - you don't actually need a tonne of flavourings for it to be super umami due to the salted fish!
Always steam with a pre-heated steamer. What does that mean? It means the water in the steamer is already boiling by the time you use that to steam any of your foods.