Steamed pork with water chestnuts is a popular Chinese comfort food loved for its easy preparation and pantry-friendly ingredients. The two main ingredients you will need are ground pork and water chestnuts. It is a satisfying meal using only simple seasonings, including chopped green onions, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce.
Chinese Steamed Pork Patty With Water Chestnuts
If you have been following me for a while, it is no secret that I love easy-to-prepare steamed dishes. Since steamed dishes do not require you to keep an eye on them, they save time and effort compared to fried foods. Apart from a quick and easy preparation, steamed dishes do not normally require additional oil, making it a healthier cooking method.
This steamed pork recipe is a plate full of flavors. Savor its juicy ground pork as you taste the crunch of chopped water chestnuts. The pork and water chestnuts are sweet and umami with a flavorful combination of seasonings, including green onions, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce.
Once you have mixed all the ingredients, place the mixture in your steamer and steam for 15 minutes. The dish releases a lot of juice after steaming, which is perfect for pairing with hot white rice or fried rice like Chinese egg fried rice (蛋炒饭) or yang chow fried rice (扬州炒饭). Save this recipe for your next meal plan, whether you are looking for an additional easy-to-make side dish or simply prefer a quick lunch.
If you love the convenience of making steamed dishes, here are my other steamed recipes that are worth a try:
- Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls
- Steamed Egg With Minced Pork
- Steamed Fish
- Steamed Chicken
- Steamed Cabbage Rolls
- Steamed Salted Egg Yolk Buns (Liu Sha Bao/流沙包)
- Chinese Steamed Egg
- Shrimp Wontons
- Steamed Piggy Buns With Custard Filling
- Steamed Chinese Taro Cake
- Steamed Spare Ribs With Black Beans
What To Love About Water Chestnuts
I think water chestnut is one of the most underrated ingredients in cooking and you are probably thinking about removing this from the recipe already. However, this is actually the star of this dish! Do not confuse this with regular chestnuts as they are completely different. If you’re curious about the differences between chestnuts and water chestnuts, you can check out my article for more information.
Water chestnuts are also known as singhara nuts or Chinese water chestnuts and are popularly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It is an aquatic vegetable that grows underwater and comes from the Cyperaceae plant family. On the other hand, regular chestnuts are edible fruits that grow on trees and belong to the Fagaceae plant family.
You may think water chestnuts are nuts, but they are actually small corms of vegetables that are round with a brown, knobby appearance. When water chestnuts are cooked, they have a firm and slightly crunchy texture. As for the taste, you will love its nuttiness and sweetness, similar to a cross of apple and coconut.
How To Customize Steamed Pork With Water Chestnuts
- Pork: Use skinless pork belly or fatty pork shoulder. A mix of 70% lean pork and 30% pork fat works best to ensure juiciness, similar to the approach I use in my Chinese sausage recipe. You will blend the pork to make ground pork. If you want to skip blending, use ground pork instead. I don’t recommend using entirely lean meat. A bit of fat in the pork cut is ideal to ensure juiciness after steaming.
- Water chestnuts: They are the main ingredient I use to make water chestnut cake. While there are some substitutes available, I don’t recommend replacing them. You can buy fresh or canned water chestnuts in Asian grocery stores or online stores like Amazon. If you prefer fresh water chestnuts, avoid the ones that are wrinkly or mushy. Fresh water chestnut is usually the better option for quality flavor and texture. However, you can opt for canned water chestnuts to skip the peeling step. As you can see in my recipe video, the water chestnuts have already been peeled. If using fresh water chestnuts with the skin on, remove the top and bottom parts and peel the skin.
- Green onion: Green onions or spring onions impart a slight sweetness and mild onion taste. If you don’t have green onions, you can use chopped chives, shallots, white onions, yellow onions, or red onions.
- Salt: Give it a boost with a bit of salt. Use any type of salt, such as sea salt, pink salt, and kosher salt. Adjust to taste.
- Sugar: Counter the salty seasonings with a small amount of sugar. You can use any type of sweetener, including white sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
- Light soy sauce: Light soy sauce is a staple in giving the dish a deep umami and salty taste. You can use regular soy sauce, tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce.
- Oyster sauce: Give it a hint of sweet and caramel-like taste with a dash of oyster sauce. It is savory and umami, similar to soy sauce mixed with barbecue sauce. You can substitute this with hoisin sauce, kecap manis, teriyaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce with soy sauce and sugar, and oyster-flavored sauce.
- Cornstarch: It is common to add cornstarch to the meat mixture to bind the ingredients together. Moreover, it adds a thin layer of coating to the ground pork, which protects it from overcooking and hardening. If you don’t have cornstarch, use tapioca flour or potato starch and substitute the same amount. Wheat flour, rice flour, or all-purpose flour can also be used.
- Garnish: Add additional chopped green onions as a garnish. Although it is optional, it is highly recommended for extra flavor and a pop of green for a festive look.
- Optional ingredients: You can alter the taste a bit with additional flavoring ingredients, such as ginger for a peppery kick and sesame oil for a nutty taste. Aside from water chestnuts, you can add texture and flavor with rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms, which give a smoky, earthy taste. In addition to texture, you can add bits of minced garlic for an element of garlicky flavor. For something sweet and briny, stir in a teaspoon of cooking wine. For an in-depth taste, you can also marinate the pork with soy sauce and cooking wine before steaming it with the rest of the ingredients. You can make it spicy with red chili if you like. Finally, adjust the taste with salt and pepper.
What You Need To Make Chinese Steamed Pork
Apart from basic kitchenware such as a knife, mixing bowl, and a heat-resistant serving plate, you will need a blender or food processor to blend the pork cuts into ground pork. This is also needed in grinding the water chestnuts into bits. To cook the dish, prepare your steaming appliance.
If you don’t have a steamer, it is still possible to steam without a steamer in various DIY methods. You can steam using your pan with a steamer rack or colander in the center. If you are going to cook rice in a rice cooker, I suggest placing the pork in the steamer basket of the rice cooker and letting it steam together as the rice cooks.
In this way, it saves you time and electricity. Another way to steam is by using the steam setting of an Instant Pot. Once you have your kitchenware and steaming equipment ready, prepare these ingredients and adjust to taste:
- 200g Pork (Lean skinless pork belly, fatty pork shoulder, or ground pork)
- 100g of fresh water chestnuts (peeled and sliced) or 1 can of peeled water chestnuts
- 1 tbsp of chopped green onions
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 tsp of cornstarch
- Optional garnish: chopped green onions
How To Make Chinese Steamed Pork With Water Chestnuts
Once the pork and water chestnuts are blended, all you need to do is mix all the seasonings together and steam for 15 minutes. It is that super easy and quick! Watch my short tutorial video on Instagram or TikTok to learn more about the steps in detail.
Did you love this Chinese steamed pork version? I’d love to know your thoughts! Share your thoughts and recommendations by leaving a comment in the comments section.
Don’t forget to tag me @kitchenmisadventures to share your finished steamed pork. Follow these steps to make Chinese steamed pork with water chestnuts:
- Prepare the water chestnuts. If using fresh water chestnuts, chop the top and bottom ends and peel off the skin. If using canned water chestnuts, drain the liquid from the can. Grind peeled water chestnuts in a blender or food processor to make smaller pieces. Do not over-blend the water chestnuts since you want to retain a crunchy texture. Otherwise, they will become a smooth paste and add mushiness to the dish.
- Prepare the pork. If using pork cuts, grind them in the blender or food processor until it becomes ground pork. If using ground pork already, you can skip this step.
- Place the ground pork on a heat-resistant serving plate. Mix the blended water chestnuts, chopped green onions, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and cornstarch. Mix the meat mixture well.
- Flatten and spread the meat mixture evenly on the plate, giving you a large pork patty.
- Fill your steaming equipment with water and bring it to a boil.
- Once the water boils, place the pork mixture in the steamer basket, cover with a lid, and steam for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, carefully lift the lid and make sure the moisture does not drip on the dish. Remove the plate from the steamer basket using a steamer tong if you have one. Take extra caution in this step since it will be too hot.
- Garnish with chopped green onions and pair it with hot white rice. Serve this dish while fresh and hot with the juices still present.
Chinese Steamed Pork With Water Chestnuts
Ingredients
- 300 g Pork Lean skinless pork belly, fatty pork shoulder, or ground pork
- 100 g of fresh water chestnuts peeled and sliced or 1 can of peeled water chestnuts
- 1 tbsp of chopped green onions
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 tsp of cornstarch
- Optional garnish: chopped green onions
Instructions
- Prepare the water chestnuts. If using fresh water chestnuts, chop the top and bottom ends and peel off the skin. If using canned water chestnuts, drain the liquid from the can. Grind peeled water chestnuts in a blender or food processor to make smaller pieces. Do not over-blend the water chestnuts since you want to retain a crunchy texture. Otherwise, they will become a smooth paste and add mushiness to the dish.
- Prepare the pork. If using pork cuts, grind them in the blender or food processor until it becomes ground pork. If using ground pork already, you can skip this step.
- Place the ground pork on a heat-resistant serving plate. Mix the blended water chestnuts, chopped green onions, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and cornstarch. Mix the meat mixture well.
- Flatten and spread the meat mixture evenly on the plate, giving you a large pork patty.
- Fill your steaming equipment with water and bring it to a boil.
- Once the water boils, place the pork mixture in the steamer basket, cover with a lid, and steam for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, carefully lift the lid and make sure the moisture does not drip on the dish. Remove the plate from the steamer basket using a steamer tong if you have one. Take extra caution in this step since it will be too hot.
- Garnish with chopped green onions and pair it with hot white rice. Serve this dish while fresh and hot with the juices still present.
