#homecooking Archives

Taiwanese Braised Minced Pork Rice (肉燥饭)

By threejamigos | May 10, 2025 | Comments 0 Comment

Since returning from New York, we have made a concerted effort to eat at home. Tired of eating out (I’m shocked, I LOVE eating out), and looking at our credit card bill made eating at home more appealing. Comfort food was top on the list, which means down-home Asian classics that can be tough to find in restaurants. It’s soul food your mom or dad made.

It’s Good to Be Home

I have the same ritual whenever we return from a trip. I make a BIG-ASS pot of soup, a pork and melon soup like Korean Short Rib Soup, or a vegetable beef like Caldo or Congee (rice porridge). We usually crave something saucy served over hot steaming rice, like Taiwanese Braised Pork (Lu Rou Fan) or Cantonese Creamy Scrambled Eggs and Tomatoes,

This time, I opted for Braised Minced Pork, a riff on Taiwanese Lu Rou Fan. A recipe on Woks of Life that became my inspiration. Minced pork replaces the pork belly, which reduces the cooking time. A glance in the freezer, I found ground pork and pulled it out. The hubs rehydrated a couple of shiitake mushrooms, I found shallots, and we got to work on dinner. Stretched out on my couch, a bowl of minced pork over rice nestled in my hand, and the latest episode of Top Chef on the telly sounded perfect.

The Dish

Not gonna lie, this took longer than I anticipated. Finely dicing mushrooms, then shallots, and mincing ginger took longer than expected. But that first bite was delicious and made it all worth it. Good thing we recorded Top Chef.

Ground Pork- If possible, hand chop pork at home or buy coarse-ground pork; the texture is better.

Shiitake Mushrooms– Start with dried shiitakes and soak them in warm water until they are soft. Reserve the soaking liquid. Purchase dried Shiitakes at any Asian Market or online.

Shallots– A cross between an onion and garlic in flavor, are used widely in Taiwanese food. Fresh shallots are easy to find. I tweaked the recipe and reduced the fresh (honestly, I got tired of dicing) and added fried shallots. Fried shallots are found in a lot of Taiwanese dishes. You can fry your own, or you can buy fried shallots at most Chinese grocery stores. TJ’s fried onions, which make their appearance right before Thanksgiving, are the perfect substitute for fried shallots.

Star Anise—This fennel—and licorice-flavored spice is prevalent in Chinese food. I tend to reduce or even omit it from dishes, but it’s your choice. The original recipe calls for 2 pieces.

Soy Sauce– Dark soy has molasses, so it is sweeter than light and used for color. Light soy is saltier and used for seasoning. If you cook a lot of Chinese dishes, it is worth getting both.

Once everything is prepped, finishing is a snap. Stir fry the pork and aromatics, add the seasonings and water, and simmer 20-30 minutes.

Eggs—In Taiwanese dishes, the eggs are not jammy like ramen eggs. Boil the eggs first and then add them to the dish to absorb the flavor of the braising liquid. I LOVE jammy eggs, so I cook the eggs like ramen eggs and chill them before adding them to the pork to minimize how much more they cook. They’re not jammy but have a softer center than usual.

Barely cooked eggs are peeled and chilled before adding to the pork braising liquid.

Check out the reel on Instagram!

Taiwanese Braised Minced Pork Over Rice (肉燥饭)

Classic Taiwanese Rice Bowl. Minced pork is braised with mushrooms, spices, shallots for a umami filled dish adapted from Woks of Life

Course dinner, lunch, one bowl meal

Cuisine Taiwanese

Keyword Braised MInced Pork, Rice Bowl, Taiwanese

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 1 30

Ingredients

Aromatics

1 cup shallots finely diced
1 tablespoon ginger minced
1 1/2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms 5-6 large mushrooms, soaked & finely diced
3 tablespoons oil any neutral flavored oil, such as vegetable or canola oil

Meat and Seasonings

1 pound ground pork hand-chopped pork shoulder or pork butt is ideal, but pre-ground is acceptable
1-2 star anise I omit star anise, not a fan
3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
0.5 ounce rock sugar or 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup Fried shallots optional, if using, reduce fresh shallots to 3/4 cup

Braising Liquid

2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce Lee Kum Kee
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon five spice powder
2-1/2 cups water including shiitake mushroom soaking water

Sides and Garnishes

3-5 eggs
1/4 cup scallions chopped, white and green parts
salt to taste optional, likely not needed

Instructions

Rehydrate the dried shiitake mushrooms, rinse them off and soak in hot water for at least 2 hours or until soft. Squeeze out the liquid, and dice into ¼ inch pieces. Reserve the soaking liquid for later use..
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Cook the ginger and shallots for 1-2 minutes, or until the shallots turn translucent. Stir in the mushrooms, and cook for another 2 minutes.
Increase the heat to high. Add 1 additional tablespoon of oil, along with the ground pork and star anise. Cook until the meat is opaque.
Stir in the Shaoxing wine to deglaze the wok or pan. Add the rock sugar (or sugar), light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, five spice powder, and 2 cups of water (including the mushroom soaking water. Just be sure to leave behind any sediment from soaking the mushrooms).
Bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, reduce the heat to medium/medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, hard-boil the eggs. Bring a medium pot of water to a rolling boil. Gently lower the eggs into the water using a large spoon, taking care not to break the shells. Boil rapidly for 30 seconds, and then reduce the heat to low. Cover, and simmer the eggs for 10 minutes. Remove to a bowl of ice water. When the eggs are cool to the touch, peel them and rinse them under running water.
After the pork has simmered for 20 minutes, add the eggs to the mixture, making sure they’re submerged in the sauce. At this point, you may need to add another ½ cup to 1 cup of water to ensure there’s enough liquid to submerge the eggs. Cover and simmer the mixture for an additional 10 minutes.
Uncover the wok. If the sauce is too thin, turn up the heat to medium high, and reduce it down, stirring carefully so as not to break the eggs.
Stir in the scallions and salt to taste. To serve, give each person one egg (cut in half if desired) and ladle the pork over rice.

Notes

Itching for Fuzzy Melon Soup (Mo Gwa Tong=毛瓜汤)

By threejamigos | September 6, 2020 | Comments 8 comments

Now don’t freak over the term Fuzzy Squash or Melon. This squash does have a fuzzy exterior but it is scraped off before cooking. You are left with a sweet, mild, squash that is wonderful in soups, as a side dish with Chinese sausage and bean thread noodles, or stuffed with meat filling and steamed-my favorite, but for another post. We’re talking soup today.

But Let’s Start with Soup ABCs

We can break down Chinese Soups into two categories, quick soups and long, slow simmer soups. We tend to have quick soups on weekday workdays and save slow simmered soups (老火湯,) for the weekend. Both types are delicious of course. Many of the slow simmered soups are thought of as tonics. Various herbs are added for their health benefits. Valid? I’m not sure, I just know they are delicious and comforting. But if you ask my 90+-year-old mom, she would say she is living proof.

But This is About Quick and Easy

I learned how to make this soup from my Dad, the King of “dinner on the table in less than an hour”. To start, marinate ground pork for a couple of minutes (ok, more like 10-15min), then fry it with a couple of slices of ginger until it is no longer pink. Add water or chicken stock along with the rehydrated mushrooms and salted turnip and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Toss in the squash, bring to a boil, then lower the heat so the soup simmers for another 15 minutes or until the squash is translucent. Finish by adding the tofu, and egg and simmer for a couple of minutes to cook the egg. Taste for seasoning, add salt if needed. Garnish with scallions, and bada bing bada boom, ready to eat. My kids always throw rice into their bowls of soup, just like I did when I was a kid. This soup is a favorite, right after Corn Soup. This is down-home Cantonese soul food, da best.

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5 from 3 votes

Fuzzy Melon Soup

Down home Cantonese Soup, Fuzzy Melon Soup is quick and easy

Course One dish meals, Soup

Cuisine Asian

Keyword Fuzzy Melon Soup, mo gwa tong

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Ingredients

1 fuzzy melon Scraped and cut into slices, 1/4 inch thick
1 salted turnip Separate pieces, you will have a center chunk wrapped with a slice of root and leaves. Use 1 piece, either the slice, or leaves or the center chunk, rinse the piece you are going to use lightly with cold water to remove salt. Return remainder to bag for later use.
3 dried shiitake mushrooms Soaked in hot water to soften (20 minutes)
8 cups water or 1:1 chicken stock:water or add 1 heaping T Better Than Boullion Chicken base to water.
1-2 slices fresh ginger Smash slices with the flat of a cleaver or knife to help release flavors
1 block tofu (1/2 carton tofu) soft, medium, or firm, diced to 1/2-3/4 inch cubes if using firm tofu.
1 egg lightly beaten
1 stalk green onion diced
2-3 springs cilantro garnish
1 tsp soy sauce

Marinade for Pork

3/4 cup ground pork
1 tsp rice wine
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt and a dash of white pepper

Instructions

Combine marinade ingredients with ground pork. You can use chicken or turkey if you like. Let sit for 10-15 minutes
Scrape fuzzy melon with a knife to remove fuzz and top layer of melon. Once scraped it should still be light green in color. You can use a peeler but it will take more of the squash than necessary and the pale green layer will be removed. It's NBD. Cut melon in half lengthwise and then cut each half lengthwise to create quarters. Cut each quarter crosswise into ~1/4 inch thick slices. Set aside.
Heat 2 tsp of vegetable or peanut oil in a medium saucepan (3-4 qt). Add ginger and pork. Saute' until pork loses pinkness.
Add water/stock, mushrooms, and turnip to saucepan. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a low boil for 15 minutes. You can add soy sauce at this point or before tasting for salt in the next step.
Add squash to stock, bring back to a boil and immediately reduce heat again to a low boil. Cook until squash looks opaque rather than white and has softened but still retains its shape (about 10-15 minutes). Taste and season with salt if needed.
Add tofu and heat through. Once soup is hot again, lower heat to a gentle simmer or turn it off. Stir soup with chopsticks or spoon in one direction, add egg in a slow steady stream to create egg ribbons in soup (like egg drop soup). Or crack the egg into soup and let it poach without breaking the egg up. My dad always let me have the egg, lol. Daddy's little girl.
Garnish with green onions or cilantro, serve immediately.

Notes

Remove mushrooms from soup, thinly slice mushrooms and add them back to the soup.

The egg is optional if you don't want to add it, fine. My dad would crack the egg into the soup and let it poach, the winner gets the egg (or whoever whined enough to get it).

Salted Turnip-here is a link to a description of the one I use. Found in most Asian markets, in particular Chinese Markets

Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg-This is My Soul Food

By threejamigos | December 1, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

In Asian speak, this is how we say I love you…

“Have You Eaten Yet?”

When my kids come home I get busy in the kitchen making EVERY SINGLE DISH they love. Their favorites, from soup to dessert/ I usually have a pot of chili or spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove while they’re home and I pull out my Dad’s recipes for down-home Chinese dishes. Wes makes short rib stew and carrot cake. It’s 24-7 cooking and eating. What can I say? The Asian language of love is food.

Like Father Like Son

My dad and grandfather were the cooks in my family. My grandfather cooked for a living. Before going off to work we would often have early dinner with him. Always Chinese food, I was surprised when I found out later he was a line chef at Original Joe’s on Broadway and also at the famed Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel. For my Dad cooking was his passion.

Both of them made down-home dishes like Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg, Fuzzy Melon soup, Steamed Chicken with Lop Cheung (Chinese sausage) and Black Mushrooms, or whole fish (yes,that means the head too) with green onions and ginger. I loved watching them cook and savored eating these dishes even more. When I went off to school in Los Angeles, I would often call home to ask my Dad how to cook a favorite childhood dish. It was my connection with home and family and a way to keep them close.

A flurry of cooking this past week while the boys were home and the multiple “how do you make” calls from Jamie (who was stuck in Houston) prompted me to add a new section to 3Jamigos. I call it Soul Food. It’s down-home cooking, cherished recipes to share with family and friends. Take a peek, it might bring back some great memories. Or share a family favorite, I would love to post it on my blog.

My inaugural post for Soul Food is a down-home favorite, savory Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg (咸蛋蒸肉饼). You can find it in hole-in-the-wall Cantonese (southern China) restaurants or if you get invited over for family dinner at any of your Cantonese friends’ homes. In Chinatown, the best place for this dish was Sun Tai Sam Yuen on Jackson Street in my humble opinion, lol.

The ground pork is seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce and topped with the salted duck egg. Think of this as a version of a sausage patty topped with a fried egg. See, not so strange after all. My kids scoop up chunks of the patty and egg and mix it into their rice. Yum.

Things They Don’t Tell You in Cookbooks

Although simple to make, there are pearls of kitchen wisdom on how to prepare this dish. First, the pork. My mom would tell me to buy pork butt or shoulder and hand-chop the pork at home, better texture. The pork itself should not be too lean as the fat adds flavor and keeps it from drying out. This primer on pork pretty much holds for any dish that requires ground pork-don’t buy pre-ground (ok, sometimes I cheat-there is a coarse ground version in Chinese markets), and ask for “bun fei sau-half fat, half lean” (半肥半瘦). This is not a health-conscious choice, lol.

Duck, Duck, Go…get Chicken, it’s Ok

Raw salted duck eggs are hard to find. I was really excited when I found local salted duck eggs at Marina Foods from Metzer Farms. Great quality. The eggs are brined in a salt solution for approximately a month. At the end of the month, the yolk has hardened, the white has a gelatin-like consistency, and the egg has a wonderful briny flavor that goes well with pork. You are more likely to find salted chicken eggs which are perfectly acceptable.

When mixing the seasonings and egg into the pork, stir in ONE DIRECTION only. So pick, clockwise or counter-clockwise and stick with it. DON’T ASK ME WHY (ok, I googled it, supposedly it keeps the meat tender). My Dad told me to do it this way.

This is How We Do It

Place seasoned pork in a glass pie plate, smooshing it around the plate. Fill a Chinese rice bowl 1/3-1/2 full with HOT water. Slowly pour the hot water into the pork, stirring and breaking up the pork further. The final mixture will be loose and wet looking. Slice the yolk of the duck egg into quarters or 4 slices. A word of warning, it will be a little slimy feeling. Flatten the pieces of yolk with the side of the knife. Place the flattened pieces of yolk on top of the pork distributed evenly around the patty. Top with green onions. Place in steamer and steam over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes or until the juice runs clear when pierced with a knife or chopstick.

Just before serving, garnish with more green onions or cilantro and a drizzle of oyster sauce. Serve with a big ass bowl of rice!

Microwave Magic

You can also cook this dish in the microwave instead of steaming it! I have Cook Anyday microwave cookware now, but if you have a vented microwave dish use that. I have a teeny 600-watt microwave. Cook at full power for 8 minutes, done! Adjust for your microwave, for example, a 1000-watt microwave, I might just use 70% power and nuke it for the 7-8 minutes. For foods that are traditionally steamed, you don’t want to zap it quickly as much as gently cook it All in one bowl, no messing with a steamer contraption. Mind-blown microwave cookin’.

Easy peasy, microwave easy!

Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Duck Egg

Classic Cantonese Homestyle dish, steamed minced pork and salted eggs, bowl of steaming white rice is essential!

Course homestyle, Main Course, pork

Cuisine Asian

Keyword cantonese cuisine, salted duck eggs, Steamed pork patty

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Microwave time 8

Ingredients

3/4 Pound Ground Pork
1/4-1/3 Chinese rice bowl of hot water approximately 1/3 cup of water
1 Egg large
1 Salted Duck Egg Found in Chinese Groceries in refridgerator section or with egg, should be uncooked.

Seasonings

2 tsp. Soy Sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp rice wine or sherry or sake
1/2 Tsp. Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
Dash of white pepper

Garnish

Green Onions And Cilantro chopped or sliced to look pretty

Instructions

Separate duck egg yolk from the egg white. Reserve the yolk.
Place pork in a shallow bowl or glass pie plate that you will end up using to steam/microwaving it in. Scramble the salted duck egg white with the whole egg, add to the pork.
Stir pork with egg mixture and seasonings, stir in one direction!
Slowly add hot water to the pork mixture, and scrambling the mixture as you add the water. This will make it will look soupy.
Garnish with reserved egg yolk that has been cut Into slices. This is a process. The egg yolk is sticky and ok, kind of slimy (like an egg-duh). Since it has been brined it will be solid. I cut it into quarters and then gently smash it with the side of a knife to flatten each piece. Sprinkle half of the sliced green onions on top.
Steam for approximately 15-20 minutes, when pierced with a chopstick or knife the juices should run clear not pink.
Drizzle with oyster sauce and top with cilantro and the rest of the green onions. If you want a nice sheen, hit it with a little hot oil. (This will also bring out the flavor of the cilantro and green onions when you pour the oil over it.
Serve with rice, lots of rice, copious amounts of rice. Really.