Steamed meat patties
Posted in Chinese, Featured Articles, Featured recipe, mushroom, pork, prawn, vegetable
This is one of the dishes I loved to cook since I started cooking for my family two years ago. It is because the method is so simple and doesn’t require any special cooking skill or experience. You can prepare everything in advance and easily impress everyone with your hot and steamy meat patties on the dining table. It is most suitable for both newbies and people looking for a simple yet nutritious dish. Both my hubby and son enjoyed it very much. They will definitely double their rice portion whenever I cook this dish. It made me feel very happy looking at these two satisfying customers.
The combination of ingredients used in this recipe is just merely a guideline. Feel free to adjust according to your personal preference as mentioned in the notes below.
You can also turn it into a one-dish meal by adding some green peas in the mixture. Another option will be to steam it with some Japanese egg beancurds. Just be creative and you will be surprised to find out just how many new versions you can create from this simple recipe.
This delicious and wholesome dish is highly recommended for toddlers. The selection of colourful ingredients will also make it more appealing to them, which in turn help to improve their appetite.
This recipe has been featured in Kwong Wah Yit Poh on last Saturday (11 Jul 2009). If you can read Chinese, then go to this e-newspaper for the Chinese version.
Serve: 2-3 persons
Ingredients:
70g minced pork
50g shrimps (net weight) – de-vein and rinse under a running tap water. Pat dry with kitchen towel. Cut into small cubes.
2 pieces water chestnuts – wash, scrub and rinse. Remove skins and soak in the water to avoid discoloration. Use the side of a chopper to slightly pat the water chestnuts, then chop coarsely.
30g carrots – chopped finely
2 pieces dried shitake mushrooms – wash and soak in water. When the mushrooms turn soft, drain and squeeze dry. Chop finely.
2 tbsp chopped spring onions (only use the green parts)Seasonings:
1½ tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp light soya sauce
½ tsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp cooked oil
Dash of sesame oil, pepper and cornstarchMethods:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and seasonings. Use a pair of chopsticks to stir in one direction until well combined.
- Cover the bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
- After chilling, steam under high heat for about 15-20 minutes until cooked.
Notes:
- You can use fresh mushrooms instead. Just blanch over hot water, drain and squeeze dry.
- You can use semi-lean pork for better texture. If not, just add some cooked oil to make the mixture tenderer.
- Shrimps can be substituted by pork.
- If you are not a pork-eater, you can replace it with chicken.
- If the mixture is too dry or you prefer to have more gravy, add a little bit of water in step 1.
- You can use either a stainless steel or ceramic plate for steaming. Make sure the patties only cover 80% of the steaming tray to avoid over-spilling of gravy during the steaming process.
- Do not over-chop the water chestnuts to maintain its crunchy texture.
i am *drooling* at 6am looking at your steam patties. look sooo juicy and flavour-ful, colourful and pretty too. it’s a lot coming from me, a non-meat lover. i am going to the wet market shortly, get the ingredients and make this for dinner tonight! thanks LOADS for sharing. hey, congrats for being featured. pity i can’t read mandarin.
Skinnymum: Tks for your supports!! It really means a lot to me to receive such a first and wonderful comment a non-meat lover. Hope your family will enjoy this dish. 😉
I’ve never seen minced shrimp inside meat patties before but it sounds wonderful! I love oyster sauce too! YUM!
Cookie: The combination of ingredients is quite similar to the chinese dumplings. Do give it a try. 😉
It is an appetizing dish for kids and adults too. Will definitely try to add other ingredients to my usual steamed minced pork and egg.
Little Inbox: I haven’t tried to add egg to these meat patties before. Hmmm….sounds interesting! Let me know the results. 😉
such meat patties normally I will ‘gasak’ 2 bowls of rice…. yummy yummy!!
NKOTB: Yeah, it is a very appetizing dish for us esp when it is steamy hot. 😉
Wonderful patties and it seems very healthy too, good for the kids and adults 🙂
Selba: Maybe you can try to cook this dish for your mom. Super-easy yet delicious dish! 😉
I do have a toddler at home, with a pretty adventurous palate. So, I’m tempted to try it for her. But the truth is, I would probably enjoy this recipe just as much as she would. It looks delicious and easy (which helps when you have toddlers about.) Thanks!
Anyway, I found you through TasteSpotting and am writing to say that if you have any photos that aren’t accepted there, I’d love to publish them. Visit my new site (below), it’s a lot of fun! I hope you will consider it.
Best,
Casey
Editor
http://www.tastestopping.wordpress.com
Tastestopping: Tks for your dropping by and nice comments. 😉
Simply scrumptious healthy dish especially for kids. I ate plenty of steamed meat too during my childhood as my maternal Grandma just loved to steamed meat as it is simple and quick. Thanks for sharing this new modified recipe! I am sure it is tasty!
This is a great recipe and i always love steam meat patties …. 😛
Anggie: Tks!! Hope your kids love it. 😉
look really good.my childhood comfort food!1 add some salted fish for me,pleaseeeeeeee…
My Asian Kitchen: You are always welcome to join us. Yeah, salted fish is one of the common ingredient in the authentic steamed meat patties. But I don’t use it to cook for my son. 😉
looks so yum! I love the water chestnuts for crunch. Drooling :)~
Noobcook: I love the crunchiness of water chestnuts. They enhance the texture for the meat patties. 😉
Wow! That sounds so simple and super-delish! Beautiful photography…
Amrita: Tks for dropping by and your nice comments. 😉
This one looks really yummy. Eat with rice must be very very delicious! I must give it a try. Thanks for sharing!
Kitchen Corner: Looking forward to your feedback. Happy trying! 😉
ah… another good and healthy recipe to share. Can’t wait for more recipe. ^-^
FoOd PaRaDiSe: Tks!! Sure, will definitely share more healthy recipes soon. Stay tuned! 😉
Nice and juicy….yum yum!
Tigerfish: A must try one-dish-meal! 😉
This is like eating the wanton filling without the wanton skin. Simply lovely!
Ching: Yes, it is also similar to siew mai (chinese dumplings), right?
I love how versatile this can be, and the shrimp and water chestnuts in the mixture sound great!
Lisa: Tks!! Steamed meat patties is a very common dish in our Chinese household although mine is a modified version. Do try it out! 😉
Hi
Love you recipes 🙂 . Tried your salad during the week end, but used left over roast chicken instead 🙂
Peanutts: Glad that you like the recipe!! 😉
This dish looks very easy to prepare and cook, suits me, a “beezy” mum.
Joanne (CP): Tks!! So who is going to prepare this dish? You or your hubby? 😉
看起来真的好好吃阿！我真的很佩服你可以写中文菜谱！好羡幕阿！
谢谢你的赞赏！写中文菜谱对我来说是蛮吃力的，可能太久没练习了吧！嘻嘻！;)
对我来说，你写得非常好！我真的写不出来啊！太久没写中文了！
Lee Mei: 谢谢！我相信只要多加练习，你也一样行的!
Thanks for sharing.. I’m going to try this one. =)
Serene: Hope your lil girl loves it. 😉
Hmmm yums, first time i see such colourful meat patties!
BTW, I’ve announced this year’s Merdeka Open House theme. Do take some time to participate ;-). Thanks.
Babe_kl: Tks!!! Alright will check it out. 😉
wow! so finely cut to a precise square, just awesome, I like it too! 🙂
BBO: Tks!! 😉
Colourful pieces of yummy goodies. Will be excellent to go with porridge!
Dora: Never try with porridge before. Hmmmm…..sounds good!! 😉
Hi there, love your website. Just got one silly question. Where am I supposed to get water chestnut? Wet market got? my wet market does not seem to have as I have look at the vegetable section, etc…Thanks a lot.
Irene Ng: Tks for visiting my site. You can find water chestnut either at wet market or supermarket. Have you checked with the stall owner? Where do you live? If you have further questions, feel free to ask. You can also send me an email at foodfortots@yahoo.com. I will try my best to help you. 😉
Hi there, thanks, found it in the vege section in wet market today. Pretty cheap, only Rm2.50 for a big handful. Thanks so much and keep up the good work with the website!
Irene Ng: Hi, so glad that you had found it. So it’s time for action!! Tks for your supports and nice comments!! 😉
what another winner dish!! my hubby kept going back for more haha, i haven’t managed to get my 2yo to eat it, hopefully she’ll tomorrow!.
thanks for posting this, you’re a legend!!!
Wei: You are so kind with words! Tks a lot for your supports! When you prepare this dish for your 2yo, remember to cut down slightly the seasonings. Hope she likes it too. 😉
Is cornstarch and cornflour same? I read in your web, sometimes you will use cornflour and sometimes cornstarch for thickening?
Anonymous: They are the same. Sorry for the confusion.
I am actually Chinese with a 6 year old Puerto Rican boy whom I am his guardian. I not only showed him the photo but, had him prepare it with me.He could have just ate the sauce from steaming with a bowl of rice but, I made little bits of it in his rice and just served sauteed shanghai bok choy with a little sea salt, ginger, garlic, and oil and he was a happy camper!
Can anyone email me more Chinese homestyle recipes? Hengcai@hotmail.com Thanks.
Chino: Thanks for your kind feedback. You should be able to find lots of Chinese homestyle recipes through google search. Hope it helps! 😉
Hi, what do u mean by 1 tsp cooked oil under seasonings? Do you mean cooking oil or cooked oil?
Mei Ling: Cooked oil = 熟油 （either shallots flavoured oil or garlic flavoured oil). For shallots flavoured oil, you can follow this method: https://food-4tots.com/2008/12/01/fried-shallots/.
Hi,I’ve been using your recipes to cook for my now 2yo son since he was a little less than 1. In fact, your recipes are the only recipes I follow for most of his meals. I can only say that you are my saviour when it comes to cooking for my family,taking the fact that I have hardly cooked before. Anyway,yesterday,my son finished his daily rice portion when i made him the steamed meat patties from your recipe. That was a record breaking! He isn’t too much of a picky eater but so far he always left a little bit of his daily rice portion. I was so amazed and sure it was bcos of the meat patties,I felt the strong urge to tell you about this. Your recipes are wonderful and they are so simple yet so delicious and more importantly,healthy. I have also made your banana oatmeal muffin and it turned out great. Thought of making it again for my son’s bday,but I dont think I have the time bcos it’s in just 2 days time! Thank you thank you thank you for sharing with us your gifted cooking skill.
Vera: Thanks a lot for your wonderful feedback!! I’m so flattered! So glad that my recipes work for your little tot. You’ve done a great job too! Keep it up! 🙂
Hi, would love to try this out for my two 1-year-olds but I am not adding any salt & sugar to their food at the moment so oyster sauce & soya sauce are a no-no seasonings for now. What do you suggest I could use to flavor their food? Or the ingredients alone are tasty & ‘sweet’ enough without the seasoning? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
TweenMom: If your kids are used to bland and tasteless food, they can definitely accept the natural flavour of these ingredients. You can add egg if you like. Water chestnuts and carrots have natural sweetness. 🙂
Just wondering…when do you start adding salt / seasoning your children’s food? I thought sodium is not good for them at such young age..
TweenMom: For my son, I started adding salt and seasoning into his food after he was 2.5 years old. The amount that I used at the initial stage was very minimal. The recipes that I shared on this website are suitable for toddlers above 2.5 years old. So please replicate them with extra care. 🙂
Can I prepare the patties and freeze them in little glasswares for quick steaming over the week? With two babies I don’t have too much time to prepare each meal fresh from scratch 3x/day.
TweenMom: Yes, you can freeze them. When you want to cook them, just steam directly without having to thaw them. The time of steaming may be a bit longer as to ensure the patties are thoroughly cooked. 🙂