Another take on the traditional pork patty

After moving to HK, CharK and I have been experimenting with different dishes to try to speed up our cooking time. One of my favourite cooking shows that I've started watching is TVB's Good Cheap Eats (食平D). I've found the combination of the host's blunt personality and efficient cooking approach to be really helpful in giving me recipes ideas and tips on cooking techniques.

Pork patties are a staple at our place because they are simple to prepare and they can be left to steam on their own. We typically just chop up some mushrooms and add it to the half-lean and half-fat minced pork which is marinated with the typical "Chinese flavourings": soy sauce, sugar, corn starch, sesame oil, and salt.

On a recent episode of Good Cheap Eats, the host demonstrated how to make pork patties with a twist--pork balls encrusted with rice. The other interesting change was substituting corn starch with oatmeal. It turns out oatmeal serves the same purpose as the cornstarch--acts as a binder and softens the pork patty.

Here's how the dish turn out:

Rice encrusted minced pork and mushroom balls (Photo: CathC)

I know, you're probably thinking the pork balls look a little on the spiky side--resembling a blow fish even. But they were delicious! The oatmeal does make the pork balls juicer than our normal patties and the rice soaks up the meat juices nicely. But I might have been a little heavy handed with the rice--next time I'll retry the recipe with a fewer tablespoons of rice.

What are your favourite cooking shows? Leave your comments below--I'd love to hear about any tips for your favourite quick and easy recipes!