Pork slices with pickled mustard

Method

1. Rinse the pickled mustard, cut into fine shreds and soak in cold water: about an hour for a whole head, ten to fifteen minutes for a packet of pre-shredded, tasting as you go; do not soak away all the salt or the dish loses its point. Squeeze dry and toss with half a teaspoon of sugar.
2. Slice the pork across the grain and marinate thirty minutes with the soy, a teaspoon of sugar, the wine, a pinch of white pepper, the cornflour, sesame oil, oil and a tablespoon of water.
3. Mix the pork with the pickle and half the ginger, spread in one layer on a plate, and put the rest of the ginger on top.
4. Steam over fully boiling water on high for ten to twelve minutes until the pork is cooked through with no pink.
5. Scatter spring onion and serve with the juices over rice.

Take care

• Contains soy and wheat (soy sauce) and sesame (sesame oil). Pork must be cooked through: thin slices in a single layer reach it in ten to twelve minutes, a heap does not. The pickle is very salty.

The story

榨菜 is Sichuan’s pickled mustard tuber, and it reached Hong Kong tables through the post-war Shanghainese and northern communities before becoming an everyday Cantonese larder item, for the pork and pickle soup and for these steamed slices. It is the least fussy of home dishes: no wok, one plate, and the only argument is over the cut of pork and how long to soak the pickle.

Same technique

Steamed whole fishPork patty with preserved mustardSpare ribs in black bean sauce

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.