Polly is such a sweet friend that she came over to my house to teach me to make a home style pork dish called Salted Mustard with Pork Belly (Mui Choy Khow Yok). I used to have this dish at home when my late mom was doing all the cooking. Regretfully, I have never learn it from her.
Polly, thank you so much for showing me how to make it. Ben will surely loves this dish.
There are only a few ingredients to make this dish. The amount in this recipe is good for 2 large servings. You may halve the recipe to suit your family.
- 3 lbs pork belly cut into chunks
- 1 package of salted mustard, about 1 lb
- 5 cloves of garlic, pressed and remove skin.
- 4 tablespoons dark soy
- 3 tablespoons cooking liquor
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 to 1.5 cups water
Marinate the pork with dark soy, cooking liquor, sugar and garlic. Soak the salted mustard in water and rinse a few times to remove any grits in them. Squeeze dry the salted mustard and chopped into small pieces.
Heat a large wok and add in the marinated pork and 1 cup of water. Cook the pork for about 10 minutes until the outer layer of the pork is cooked. Remove the pork from the wok and arrange in a steaming dish. Add the chopped salted mustard into the remaining cooking liquid in the wok. Add more water if needed. Bring back to a boil and switch off the stove. Ladle the salted mustard on the pork. Steam the dish for 1 to 1 1/4 hours until the pork is soften. Test the doneness by poking the pork with a chopstick. If the chopstick goes in easily, then it’s ready. Serve over steam rice or noodles. Yum, yum.
1 package of salted mustard, about 1 lb
Suanne: I may be mistaken, but this amount of mustard will make the dish taste like bad fortune.
This dish sounds amazing! I love pork belly and salted vegetables. Do you think it’s possible to substitute…I’m not sure what it’s called in English, but the Japanese say “za sai”, like salted turnip or something…instead of salted mustard?
Thanks for the comment. I also want you to know I enjoy yours whenever I see it, but I must tell you I seem to get really hungry everytime I wonder why? Thanks again and keep your menus going. Bill
Hi Hotei, the salted mustard is not salty at all after the soaking and rinsing. In fact the dish taste slightly sweet.
Hi Melinda, I remembered my mom used to make a steam pork dish with ‘za chai’. I had been trying to remake the dish but just cant get the same flavour and the pork end up tough. Perhaps I had been using the wrong cut of pork. I should try it with pork belly which is not so lean and it should be more tender when steamed. And the pork has to be thinly sliced for the za chai version. Thanks for giving me the inspiration.
Oh my gosh. I came across your blog through blogmad, and when I saw that entry I just… fell over. I haven’t had good Chinese food in a long time, and it’s 12:40 in the morning right now, so I’m REALLY hungry and wishing that I’m in Shanghai right now. That looks so good….
Hi Suanne,
I was wondering if you could tell me what flavorings you’ve tried using for the steamed pork with za chai. Same as the salted mustard version?
Hi Melinda, my memory of the steamed pork with za chai is not brown with dark soy, it’s just the natural color, perhaps some cooking wine/chicken broth and sugar to balance the saltiness of the za chai.
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Suanne:mine turned out very good!my husband mopped all the gravy with cooked rice! remind me again of my grandma’s hakka dishes. i believed my grandma stewed it instead of steam and called it “moon hum choy”. thanks for sharing suanne.
Hi Rose, I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe. I appreciate your feedback as it’s an encouragement for me to continue to share. Thank you for dropping by, Rose.
Do you think cooking in the pot the entire way will have the same effect? I’m lazy and don’t want to do extra dishes if I don’t have to.
Thanks
Hi GourmetBride, I’m just making one in a pot today, not the steaming version. I will post the recipe later.
I remember how my grandma made it. Cutting up the pork belly into cube size is a definte NO NO. :p
She would have us removed all the tiny hair with a tweezer and then burnt the skin side to get rid of all the fine hair. And then browned all sides of the pork belly before stewing it with all the other ingredients.
When done, slice the rectangular pork belly about 1 inch thick.
Fantastic recipe. Thanks for posting it. My family is Hakka and my mom makes this dish every now – can’t eat it too often because of the high fat content but MY GOSH is it every a treat when she makes it! My husband is American and he had my mom’s version, another during our trip to HK and he said this was JUST as delicious when I made it!! Wonderful post!
For authenticity, Hakka people also use in this dish brown bean paste, Oyster sauce, fermented and salted black beans, green onions, and then thicken with a slurry of cornstarch.