Steamed Fried Pork

Chinese name: 小酥肉 (xiǎo sū ròu)

Characteristics: The Steamed Fried Pork tastes tender and crisp. The pork is fat but not greasy.

Steamed Fried Pork is a famous Han dish and it is a common food throughout China, especially in Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan and Shaanxi Provinces.

Its main ingredients, pork covered with eggs, are nutritious. The crisp  and non-greasy pork makes it a favorite for people preferring a light flavor dish. Thanks to the easy cooking method as the recipe below shows, it attracts the attention of many housewives.
 

Ingredients:


streaky pork, 300g

two eggs
 
Ingredients of Steamed Fried Pork

Seasonings:


cooking oil
salt
cooking wine
prickly ash seeds
star anise
cinnamon
3-5 dried chili peppers
soy sauce
starch
white granulated sugar

Note: The amount of the ingredients and seasonings listed above can be appropriately used according to one's personal taste.
Seasonings of Steamed Fried Pork

Preparation:


Remove the skin of the streaky pork. Clean and cut it into 3-5cm long slices, with the thickness of 1cm. Put the slices into a bowl. Crack two eggs into the bowl. Add in a little cooking wine and salt. Stir to mix them well. Then add some starch and stir the mixture further. Then let it stand for 15-20 minutes.
Preparation of Steamed Fried Pork

 

Methods:

STEP
1

Place a wok over high heat. Add in some cooking oil until it is around 150 ℃ (302 ℉). Put the pork slices into the wok one by one and fry them. When turning yellowish, pick them out with a colander and drain the oil. Put the fried pork slices in a bowl.

Fry Pork Slices
STEP
2

Clean the wok and pour in some cold water. Add in prickly ash seeds, star anise, cinnamon, dried chili peppers, soy sauce and some white granulated sugar in sequence until it smells fragrant. Then add a little water and heat the mixture for 10-20 seconds. Pour the seasoning mixture onto the fried pork in Step 1.

Add Seasonings to Fried Pork
STEP
3

Put the bowl with processed pork in Step 2 into a steamer. Steam it for around 40 minutes until the pork are soft. Turn off the heat.

Steam the Fried Pork
STEP
4

Pick out the prickly ash seeds, star anise, cinnamon and chili peppers with chopsticks. Serve the well cooked pork onto a fine plate.

Steamed Fried Pork
STEP
5

Add some chopped green onion onto the cooked pork as garnish. The mouthwatering Steamed Fried Pork is finished.

Steamed Fried Pork

 

Origin of the Steamed Fried Pork:

It's said that Zhu Gaosui, the son of Zhu Di (the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644)), loved to eat meat, so his maid chose quality streaky pork to stew, steam and then fry it. Added green onions and other seasonings, the pork tasted perfect. A seasoning of perilla frutescens (Zi Su in Chinese) was added in the dish, so it was called Zi Su Pork. Later, due to the changes of the cooking methods, this dish used different names, such as Tasty & Crispy Pork (Xiang Su Rou) in central Shanxi and Steamed Fried Pork (Xiao Su Rou) in southern Shanxi.

Further Reading: Top 10 Chinese Pork Recipes to Satisfy Your Taste Bud
 
- Last updated on Dec. 09, 2022 -