Rice crumb pork in lotus leaves

I  tried many versions of Sichuan- and Hunan-style rice crumb pork when I lived in Taiwan. Some were terrific, such as the insanely spicy piles of meat served in small bamboo steamers at Old Zhang’s Dandan Noodles close to downtown Taipei. None, though, could hold a candle to one version a friend made for dinner.

This friend was one of the most amazing women I’d ever met. She had started out on the bottom rungs of society, her family so poor that they embroidered the bottoms of the slippers that were placed on dead bodies for funerals. She worked hard, studied harder, got a couple of degrees, and soon had a good job and a family of her own in a nice apartment.

Rolled up & in the steamer

One day she served this rice crumb pork at a dinner for us, and I was blown away by its genius. 

My friend had used pork ribs, and the sauce that had worked its way down to the bones was subtly spicy: hot enough to please the adults yet gentle enough for her kid to enjoy, too. Her version became the bar I had to reach when it came to this recipe, and I think I’ve succeeded here.

Both Sichuan and Hunan have great riffs on this dish, and since it is almost always served at banquets, not a trace of chilies can usually be found. And so, this is more of a street-stall variety. If you want to be totally authentically fancy here, just leave out the chilies and you will have something mildly delicious in the style of Lake Dongting in Hunan’s north country.

This is a great party dish because it can be made way in advance—even cooked completely and frozen—so that it only has to be resteamed before serving.

Lotus-wrapped spicy rice crumb pork

Héyè zhēngròu  荷葉蒸肉

Sichuan, Hunan
Serves 6 to 8 as part of a multicourse meal

Pork and marinade:

Boned shank

14 to 16 ounces boned pork shank with the skin on, pork butt (i.e., shoulder), pork ribs, pork belly with the skin on, or other fatty meat (see Tips)

¼ cup liquid from Fermented Bean Curd, or rice wine

¼ cup sweet soy sauce

2 tablespoons finely minced ginger

2 green onions, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons sweet wheat sauce

6 tablespoons solids from Citrus Chili Oil with Black Beans, or hot bean paste to taste, optional

Rice crumbs and lotus leaves:

2 cups rice crumbs, but use sticky (a/k/a glutinous or sweet) rice here; spices in the crumb optional

4 dried lotus leaves, soaked in hot water until pliable

Dry-fry the rice

1. Rinse the meat and pat dry with paper towels. If there is skin involved, be sure and remove all of the hairs with tweezers. Cut the meat (including all the fat, skin, and possible tendons) into thin slices; if the ribs are slightly larger, that's all right. If you run across any particularly tough bits—especially tendons and fat, cut them into smaller dice.

2. Mix the marinade in a medium work bowl; taste and adjust the seasoning to fit your taste and menu and guests. Add the meat to the bowl, toss, and let the meat marinate in there while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. (This can be made up to 8 hours in advance.)

3. Prepare a deep steamer and bring a couple inches of water to boil in the steamer. Pour the Rice Crumbs into the marinating pork and toss well.

Marinated meat with rice

4. Wipe the lotus leaves dry with a clean towel and cut off the hard stem section in the center. Cut each leaf in half and then cut each half into 3 even triangles, which will give you a total of 24 triangles. Divide the pork into 24 portions and place these small mounds near the bottom of each triangle. Fold the long edges over each mound of pork and then roll the leaf up from the wide bottom end up to the pointy tip. Place the leaf packets in a single layer into the steamer baskets. Steam the pork for about 3½ hours, or until the meat is utterly tender. Either serve them immediately with steamed rice and some vegetables, or cool the packets down, store them in a resealable freezer bag, and freeze until you want to steam them again.

Tips

Any nice cut of pork is perfect for this recipe, so see what looks good to you. Again, choose something that has a good ratio of fat to lean; about 1:3 is very nice. If you select ribs, have the butcher saw them into pieces no longer than 2 or 3 inches. Then, cut them apart so that each bone is surrounded by meat and fat. And by the way, for some strange reason "pork butt" comes from the shoulder of a pig, not its hind quarters. Don't ask me why.

Roll up lotus packets

As with any rice crumb dish, fat is a very important component to its success. It should have a creamy texture, and the meat should practically melt on your tongue.

This dish can be made over several days, if you like. This makes it great for fancy dinners when your stress level is already in the red.

Hunan's pumpkin stuffed with spicy rice crumb pork

Before we continue on our look at south-central China's cusines, I'm going to take a quick detour north to another chili-loving paradise before returning to Guizhou, Guangxi, and then Yunnan. 

There's a reason for this: it's getting close to autumn -- we're less than a month away from the Moon Festival on September 30th this year -- so pumpkins have started showing up in the markets. And I can never wait to get my hands on a really fresh, beautiful kabocha when they are still heavy and juicy from the field.

Just such a thing happened the other day when a pile of kabochas and other pumpkin-like squashes caught my eye between a bin full of mauve-skinned sweet potatoes and a dangerously high stack of yellow onions. I couldn't resist. This pumpkin was a beaut of a thing, speckly green with a twisting stem that spoke of happy growth in some sandy land, with just enough water to make it grow perfectly round. 

Cut a fancy edge...

And I knew exactly what I was going to make with it: a delightful banquet dish from the chili-laced kitchens of Hunan, one that always makes me think of cool Taipei fall weather when hearty fare and deep aromas summoned me into the depths of my favorite haunt for dishes that tasted of the capital city of Changsha. These were restaurants where the owners and the chefs were born and bred on chilies back on the Mainland, and no shortcuts were permitted in their kitchens.

You see, back in the Seventies, Taipei still reveled in the mastery of great chefs who had fled the Communist takeover in China.  That was bad luck for the food lovers left in China, but it was incredibly good luck for me.

One of the absolute undeniable perks of my job as an interpreter for a museum and the library there was that I got to eat amazing, world-class, insanely good classics that had pretty much disappeared everywhere else on the globe. I'd be hauled along on some dinner for foreign dignitaries where I always tried to pay enough attention to the drift of the conversation that I could keep up a running translation, but come on, I was there for one reason and one reason only: the food.

and you get this!

Both the museum and the library directors were from the Yangtze River area, so we could count on hitting all of the best Jiangsu and Zhejiang-style palaces in town. It didn't hurt that Chiang Kai-shek -- Taiwan's strongman and Mao Zedong's sworn enemy -- was from the same area, so the flavors of Suzhou and Hangzhou and Shanghai and all the other great capitals of East China's elegant cuisines were always in good supply.

But I also had another partner in culinary crime who would take me to the spicy joints and chili-laden places of fine dining whenever the choice was up to her: my immediate boss at the library and fellow heat lover, Teresa. As I've mentioned in the past, my Spice Girl girlfriends are legion, packing away anything hotter than hot with a charming combination of ladylike aplomb and undisguised gusto.

One thing that these friends turned me on to was spicy pork coated in rice crumbs. And life has never been the same. This is fever-dream food, serious culinary genius, the kind of stuff that you'd think about if you were stuck on a desert island and surviving on nothing but fish and coconuts. But it's also so easy that you'll have a raving success your first time around.

A few months ago we featured a Beijing-style dish of duck and rice crumbs steamed in lotus leaves, and this pretty much follows the same principles. In fact, the rice crumbs are exactly the same.

But while the northern-style dish was mellow and refined, with only the duck meat and sweet wheat paste making much of a statement, this dish is a riot of colors and flavors and textures.

Marinating pork shoulder

Another skill that we've looked at before will serve you in good stead here, for carving a watermelon is almost exactly the same thing as carving a pumpkin, only with the pumpkin it's a little bit easier since you just have to scoop out the seeds rather than all of that melon.

The meat is seasoned in a salty, spicy marinade, and then rolled in the rice crumbs and steamed until cooked through. Then, it is packed into a hollowed out pumpkin and quickly steamed to both flavor and cook the pumpkin flesh. 

The magic happens at serving time. First, you get this blast of steam and vibrant zig-zags of orange pumpkin against the dark green skin, with a reddish brown tumble of meat and rice.

But that's only the beginning, for the pumpkin is sweet and mellow and soft, making it a perfect foil for the meat. In fact, I usually prefer to eat this dish as is without any rice because it is just an ideal balance of meat, starch, and vegetable.

Secret ingredient: mushrooms

And if that was not enough of a selling point, you should know that this dish only improves if you make it a day ahead of time. That extra 24 hours gives the pumpkin time enough to get acquainted with the spicy meat, and it absorbs those flavors, as well as the buttery juices from the pork. It's utterly sublime then, and if you use a kabocha as your pumpkin of choice, you'll even be able to eat the skin, as it becomes just as tender as the flesh.

The meat, of course, is open to lots of interpretations. Fatty short ribs or baby back ribs are wonderful here, as are beef or chicken or even bean curd. The main thing to keep an eye on is the fat level, because you need that oily moisture to make each mouthful worth a moan of pleasure. So, if you use a lean cut of meat or some tofu batons, add more peanut oil to the marinade to balance out the levels. Remember that when it comes to ratios of fat to the rest of the other ingredients, this is a whole lot like a confit, and there's no such thing as a low fat confit.

One of the two things I've done here that is a bit out of the ordinary is to add fresh mushrooms to the mix. They add an almost fatty mouthfeel to the meat, acting as soft pillows that add another layer of flavor while soaking up the marinade. 

Tying the string around the pumpkin and plate is the other one of my own humble contributions, and it's very important here because it accomplishes two things. 

Toss with rice crumbs

First, this allows you to easily remove the pumpkin from a deep steamer without burning yourself; just hook a big fork on the knot and lift. Second, since the kabocha turns tender after 20 minutes in the steamer, if you don't have a plate underneath the squash, the string will slice it into wedges while it's still in the steamer, and then you'll have an unholy mess on your hands. I must be allowed to boast: this invention of yours truly is extremely useful. Too bad they don't award Nobel Prizes in the field of food...

As the days cool down and the nights grow longer, this is one terrific dish to rely on when company comes calling. Just don't tell them how easy it is.


Spicy crumb pork in a pumpkin 
Fenzheng nangua zhong  粉蒸南瓜盅 
Hunan
Serves 6 to 8 as part of a multicourse meal, 4 as a main dish

Pork and marinade:
14 to 16 ounces pork butt (i.e., shoulder), pork ribs, or other fatty meat (see headnotes and Tips)
6 to 8 fresh Chinese black mushrooms
1 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1½ tablespoons finely chopped ginger
2 tablespoons fermented black beans (douchi), coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons Sichuan style hot bean sauce (la doubanjiang)
1½ tablespoons sweet wheat sauce (tianmianjiang)
2 teaspoons sugar

A wedge of autumn flavors

1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil
3 to 8 tablespoons fresh peanut or vegetable oil

Pumpkin and rice:
1 largish kabocha squash or other tasty pumpkin (about 8 to 9 inches in diameter; see Tips)
1 cup Rice Crumbs (double the recipe); spices in the crumb optional

1. Rinse the meat and pat dry with paper towels. Cut the meat or ribs (including all the fat) into pieces about 2 x ½ x ½ inches in size; if the ribs are slightly longer, that's all right as long as they will fit easily into the pumpkin. Clean the mushrooms, remove and discard the stems, and break the caps into halves or quarters, depending upon their size.

2. Mix the marinade in a medium work bowl; taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more hot bean sauce or other ingredients to fit your taste and menu and guests. Add the meat and mushrooms to the bowl, toss, and let the meat soak in there while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. (This can be made up to 8 hours in advance.)

3. Wash the pumpkin and pat dry. Cut the top of the pumpkin in a saw-tooth pattern as was done with the watermelon a few weeks ago; the bottom edge of the lid should be no lower than a quarter of the pumpkin's height. (This means if the pumpkin is 6 inches high, make your lowest edge on the lid no more than 1½ inches from the stem.) Remove the lid, scoop out the seeds and gunk, and you're done. (The pumpkin can be prepared a day or two in advance; just place it in a plastic bag and refrigerate.) Prepare the Rice Crumbs, too. (These can be made weeks in advance; just store in a covered jar in a cool area.)

4. Prepare a deep steamer (see Tips) and bring a couple inches of water to boil in the steamer. Pour the Rice Crumbs into the marinating pork and toss well. Place the coated pork in a heatproof bowl that fits easily in the steamer. Steam the pork for about an hour, or until the meat is tender and the rice is fluffy and flavorful; remove the pork from the steamer, taste it again, and adjust the seasoning (see Tips).

Tie twine around pumpkin & plate

5. Layer the hot steamed pork in the pumpkin; it should fit snugly, but don't smash the pork down. If you have too much or the pumpkin is too small, that's all right: just use this pork to either refill the pumpkin later on or save it for lunch tomorrow. Place the lid on the pumpkin and place it on a heatproof plate that is about the same size as the pumpkin. Then, tie kitchen twine around the pumpkin (see picture on the right) and plate so that the twine securely holds the pumpkin in place. 

6. Add more water to your steamer, bring it again to a boil, and then steam the pumpkin for no more than 20 minutes; check it after 15 minutes. If the skin and flesh can be easily pierced, it's done. Remove it from the heat. You may either serve the pumpkin immediately or let it cool down so that you can refrigerate covered it overnight.

Tips

Any nice cut of pork is perfect for this recipe, so see what looks good to you. Again, choose something that has a good ratio of fat to lean; about 1:3 is very nice. If you select ribs, have the butcher saw them into pieces no longer than 2 or 3 inches. Then, cut them apart so that each bone is surrounded by meat and fat. And by the way, for some strange reason "pork butt" comes from the shoulder of a pig, not its hind quarters. Don't ask me why. 

Tie and steam the pumpkin

As with any rice crumb dish, fat is a very important component to its success. That is why tasting the meat once it is finished steaming is so necessary. Taste the meat with special attention, then, to not only the seasonings but how it feels in your mouth. It should have a creamy texture, and the meat should practically melt on your tongue.

The size of the squash really is determined by the size of your steamer. So, measure what you have and choose accordingly. I use a deep pasta pot with a perforated insert. It's certainly not what the manufacturer had in mind, but it works perfectly!

As you can see, this dish can be made over several days, if you like. This makes it great for fancy dinners when your stress level is already in the red.

Steamed lotus duck with rice crumbs

If you are a fan of meats coated with a savory sauce, tossed in rice crumbs, and then steamed into sheer succulence, this is the dish for you. Unlike the spicy pork versions so popular in central China, this northern delight features duck breast seasoned with sweet wheat paste. 

An old Beijing cookbook I referred to when first making this says that "it originally had Hunan flavors," but by substituting sweet wheat paste for chili sauce, Beijing chefs successfully transplanted it from humid, heat-loving central China into the cold north.

Filling ready to be rolled up

As with just about every dish I introduce here, this too is extremely simple to make. Ingredients are tossed together, wrapped in a piece of dried lotus leaf, and steamed. And that is it.

The only thing that requires an extra step is if you want to make your own Rice Crumbs (zhengfen or "steam powder" in southern China and mifen "rice powder" in the north)  -- something I highly recommend -- but this is nothing more than dry frying raw rice with a couple of spices and then pulverizing them. However, if you want to save some time, commercial rice crumbs are available in many Chinese markets (see Tips).

Lotus leaves are easy to use and are not only beautiful, but they lend a subtle fragrance. They keep for months (if not years) when stored properly, and are handy whenever you want to lend an additional bit of exoticism and tropical flair to your dishes.

One thing I've done that is not in the traditional recipe is to add chubby strips of fresh Chinese black mushrooms to the filling. These are soft and almost fatty in texture, and they both lighten the texture and deepen the flavors.

Rice crumbs on the duck

Pork can easily be substituted for the duck, if you prefer, and it could be either meaty 2-inch ribs or tender boneless cuts. As with duck, pork goes very well with slightly sweet sauces, and it has a richness that melds well with these flavors.

To serve, I like to add a small bunch of Chinese radish or Japanese daikon sprouts alongside the little rolls as they not only add color, but also act as a palate cleanser, something like a raw pickle. Their pungency wakes up the flavors of the duck and sweet wheat paste perfectly. I also remove the plain toothpicks that hold the rolls together during the steaming and substitute pretty ones that add another flight of fancy. Completely optional, but much appreciated by diners.


Steamed lotus duck with rice crumbs 
Heye mifen ya 荷葉米粉鴨  
Beijing
Serves 16 as an appetizer, 8 as an entree

2 large dried lotus leaves (see Tips)

Rice crumbs:

Rice + spices

½ cup regular raw rice (not sweet or glutinous)

2 petals of star anise

1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns

(or ½ cup commercial rice crumbs; see Tips)

Filling:

1 whole duck breast (two halves) with skin on, preferably organic and free range (see Tips)

1 tablespoon minced, peeled ginger

2 tablespoons minced green onions

1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 tablespoons sweet wheat paste (tianmianjiang)

2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon sugar

4 large fresh Chinese black mushrooms 

Garnish:

Chinese radish (or Japanese daikon) sprouts, or cilantro sprigs, or green onion shreds

1.    Soak the lotus leaves in a large bowl of very hot water while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. When they are soft, rinse them carefully to remove any dust, and then wipe them clean on both sides with a paper towel. Trim off the center stem and then cut each leaf into 8 wedges. Cover the leaves with a damp towel to keep them supple.

Duck breast

2.   If you are using commercial rice crumbs, skip this step. Otherwise, place the dry, uncooked rice in a dry, unoiled wok along with the star anise and Sichuan peppercorns. Cook the rice over medium-high heat, tossing constantly, until the grains turn from translucent to white and then very slightly toasted. Cool the rice and then grind it coarsely (see Tips).

3.   Rinse the duck breast and pat it dry. If it is not boneless, remove the bones, but keep the skin on. Slice each side of the breast horizontally (against the grain) into 8 even pieces. Place the duck slices in a medium work bowl.

4.   Add the ginger, green onions, black pepper, rice wine, soy sauce, sweet wheat paste, sesame oil, and sugar to the duck. Toss them together. Remove the stems from the cleaned mushrooms and slice each mushroom into ¼ inch wide strips. Add them to the duck and toss. Pour the rice crumbs over the duck mixture and toss again.

5.   Prepare 16 plain toothpicks and a steamer. Lay the 16 lotus leaf wedges out on a clean work surface, the wide side toward you; the smooth green side should be face down and the rougher lighter side on top. Divide the filling among these leaf wedges, placing a mound near the wide end. Fold the bottom third of the sides over the filling and then roll up the leaf all the way to the filling; secure with a plain toothpick. Place the little packets in the steamer and steam over medium-high heat for about half an hour (see Tips). Remove one and check; the rice crumbs should be soft and completely cooked through. If not, close up the packet and steam the duck for another 10 or 15 minutes. (This dish may be prepare up to this point, cooled, and then stored in a resealable freezer bag in either the refrigerator or freezer. To serve, simply steam them until heated all the way through; see Tips.)

Duck in the sauce

6.   To serve, you may replace the plain toothpicks with fancy ones. Arrange the packets on a serving platter or individual plates, and garnish as desired. Show your guests how to eat them by unrolling one wrap completely onto a small plate and then rolling up the leaf back up and tucking it at the side of the plate out of the way. Pieces of the duck filling can then be plucked up with chopsticks or a fork by the diner.

Tips

Check the lotus leaves before you buy them for signs of insect infestation or excessive breaking. The insects will appear as either tiny cocoons on the leaves or black dust (insect poo) at the bottom of the bag. Excessive breaking means that the leaves are too old. Store the extra leaves in an air-tight plastic bag in a dark cupboard.

Commercial rice crumbs are called zhengroufen (steamed meat powder) and are usually in the spice or dried goods aisle of a Chinese grocery in tall, narrow, white boxes. Of varying quality, they are very inexpensive. Make sure that they have expiration dates and use before that.

Ground rice crumbs

Sushi rice or any other plain white raw is fine here, as long as it is not converted rice like Uncle Ben's. Make sure the rice is at room temperature before you pulverize it. The best way to do this is in a spice grinder, although a mortar, food processor equipped with a metal blade, or a blender will work if you don’t overdo it. Pulse the rice until it is broken into between half and a quarter its original size, but do not grind it into dust.

Use the best quality duck breast available, and leave the skin on, as duck meat can be dry. The fat is delicious and will work its way into the rice crumbs and mushrooms, making this a succulent delight.

Rice crumb dishes generally will not suffer if you steam them longer than suggested; the only thing you should worry about is under steaming them, as then the rice is chewy rather than soft and mellow. So, feel free to steam these the first time for an hour if that is more convenient, or put the frozen or refrigerated packets in the steamer and steam them a second time an hour or so before you serve them.

Plain, unpainted toothpicks work best during the steaming process, as they slide easily into the leaf and will not bleed any colors onto the finished dish. If you would like to use prettier toothpicks for the presentation, just before serving simply slide out the plain ones and replace with the fancier ones.