Steamed Pork Patty and Fuzzy Melon Soup

A traditional Cantonese meal usually consists of soup, rice and a meat dish. I want to show you how to prepare meat and soup all in one pot. You'll need a big pot and a steamer device.

Ingredients

Pork Patty

• 400 gram of lean minced pork

• 1 tsp of soya sauce

• 1 tsp of sugar

• 1/2 tsp of salt

• 1 tbsp of cooking wine

• Minced ginger

• 1 piece of chili, diced (optional)

• 2 tbsp of cornstarch

• 4 pieces of Chinese dried mushroom, soaked in water and diced

• Ginger, sliced

• Spring onion, sliced

Fuzzy Melon soup

• 2 Fuzzy melon, sliced into thick pieces ( you can replace with winter melon or vegetables. For leafy vegetables, you should shorten cooking time or reduce heat.

• A few pieces of ginger

• 2 cups of chicken stock

• 1 cup of water

• Salt and white pepper

• Fish meat paste(optional)

Method

1. Marinate pork with seasonings and add diced mushroom pieces. You can marinate one or 2 days ahead

2. Put oil in the pot and pan fry some ginger pieces

3. Add fuzzy melon pieces and chicken stock

4. Add water and make sure the liquid doesn‘t reach the steamer when boiling. Bring it to a boil

5. Meanwhile, put pork patty onto a plate and spread it thinly

6. Sprinkle ginger slices

7. Steam 10 minutes. You should see the patty changing colour.

8. Check the thickest part to see if it's cooked. If not cooked, steam for another 2 minutes.

9. Add spring onion to the meat and let it steam for another 1 minute. Let it rest for 3 minutes.

10. Add some soya sauce. You can also add hot oil to make it more flavorful but I usually skip this step as I don't want to wash another pot.

11. By now, the fuzzy melon is cooked. Add fish meat paste into the soup and bring to a boil. Add salt and white pepper to taste.

A complete, easy to make, traditional Cantonese meal.