Steamed pork and egg “meatloaf’’

Khanh Nguyen’s Mum always makes this comfort food steamed pork and egg “meatloaf” when he visits. Any leftover meatloaf is best eaten pan-fried the next day.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 350 g pork belly (skin-off), thinly sliced
• 80 g banana eschallot, finely chopped
• 40 g spring onions, thinly sliced
• 8 g finely chopped garlic cloves
• 6 free-range eggs
• 30 ml fish sauce
• 15 g chicken powder
• Salt and sugar
• Cooked rice, pickled mustard greens, pickled eggplant and shrimp (see Note), sliced spring onion, fried shallots, coriander sprigs, to serve

Resting time: 10 minutes

Instructions

1. Set up a steaming station with either a large wok or saucepan filled with water with a bamboo steamer set on top, ready to steam. Bring the water to a gentle boil.
   
2. Use a heavy knife or cleaver to hand-chop the pork belly to a very coarse mince texture. Transfer the minced pork to a large bowl with the eschallot, spring onion, garlic, eggs, fish sauce, chicken powder and a generous pinch of salt and sugar. Mix well to combine, then transfer to a shallow bowl that fits inside the bamboo steamer.
   
3. Steam the pork and egg meatloaf for 20 – 30 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from the steamer and allow to rest. Serve the meatloaf with rice, pickled mustard greens, pickled eggplant and shrimp, spring onion, fried shallots and coriander sprigs.

Note

• Khanh used store-bought pickled eggplant and shrimp by Ca Phao Tom Chua for this recipe. This recipe produces the best results when hand-chopping mince rather than using pre-minced meat – which is too fine in texture for this technique.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.