Steamed Cured Pork with Glutinous Millet
A traditional dish of the Tujia and Miao ethnic groups in western Hubei, made by steaming glutinous millet together with cured pork. The cured meat turns tender, while the millet becomes soft and glutinous.
Ingredients
Cured pork belly
1000 g
Sichuan peppercorn powder
2 g
Glutinous millet (rinsed clean and soaked for 2 hours)
150 g
MSG
1 g
Refined salt
2 g
Instructions
1
Step 1
Char the skin of the cured pork over an open flame, then soak it in warm water for 80 minutes. Scrape off the burnt skin thoroughly, wash clean, and drop into a pot of boiling water to cook until about 70% done, then lift out. Rinse the glutinous millet thoroughly and soak it for 2 hours.
2
Step 2
Cut the partially cooked cured pork into slices 6 cm long, 4 cm wide, and 1 cm thick, leaving each pair of slices joined at the base. Combine the glutinous millet with the salt, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and MSG, then tuck the mixture into the slit between each pair of joined slices. Arrange the slices overlapping one another in a steaming bowl, set the bowl in a steamer, and steam over high heat for 2 hours. Remove, invert onto a serving plate, and garnish the rim with decorative flowers to finish.
