Growing up, my mom would make a very rustic Chinese dish called "ju yook bang", which literally translates to pork meat cookie. It's basically ground pork mixed together with shiitake mushrooms, water chestnuts and green onions, and then molded into a flat disc and steamed. It doesn't look pretty, but it's really darn tasty over some rice-- especially if you add some chopped up shrimp to the meat mixture. I like to use a 2 to 1 ratio of ground pork to shrimp. Normally, I use chopped water chestnuts or jicama for some crunch and to "lighten up" the meat mixture, but because of COVID-19, I couldn't find any, so had to substitute with wood ear mushrooms, which I always have in the pantry.
To get around the non-attractiveness of the rustic dish, I stuff this meat mixture into aburaage (a Japanese style deep fried tofu pocket). It takes a bit of time to stuff the aburaage (because you want to gently stuff them and not tear the pockets), but I think you will find the end result to be worth the effort. It tastes similar to the pork stuffed bean curd rolls at dim sum restaurants.
You can make your own aburaage, or buy it already prepared in the refrigerated section or the canned goods aisle of your local Asian market. I usually buy the ones in a can because it's shelf stable, and I can store it in the pantry for when I'm in the mood to make this dish or my refreshing somen stuffed tofu pockets. These are the two brands of canned aburaage that I've tried and are pretty good: Shirakikiu brand or Hime brand aburaage (FYI: The cost at the Asian grocery store is nowhere near the $13 to $21 a can they are now charging online...) There's usually about 15 to 16 pockets per can.
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
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| Gather ingredients |
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| Cut shrimp into chunks |
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| Add seasonings |
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| Mix vigorously |
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| Stuff into tofu pockets |
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| Steam for 30 minutes |
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| Pour gravy over stuffed aburaage and Enjoy! |
Yields 16 appetizers
Ingredients:
1 can of seasoned fried bean curd (inarizushi no moto) 10 oz
Ingredients for Pork Hash:
- 1 lb ground pork
- ½ lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, and cut into small chunks
- ½ c chopped green onions
- 6 small dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted, and finely chopped (about 1/3 c after chopped)
- 1/3 c finely chopped reconstituted wood ear mushrooms (can use finely chopped water chestnuts or jicama instead)
- 1 egg
- ½ t salt
- 2 t soy sauce
- ½ t sugar
- ½ t ginger powder
- ½ t garlic powder
- ½ t black pepper
- 1 T cornstarch
- 3 T water
Ingredients for gravy:
- 1 t cornstarch
- ½ c water
- liquid accumulated from the stuffed aburaage after steaming
Procedures:
1. Place all the ingredients for the pork hash into a bowl and mix really well for 5 minutes until it resembles a paste.
2. Open the can of prepared aburaage and discard the liquid inside the can.
3. Gently stuff aburaage with the pork hash mixture. I typically stuff each aburaage about half way first and then top them all off with the remaining pork hash to ensure that there is an equal amount of pork hash per aburaage.
4. Place them on a steaming plate (All 16 pieces fit nicely in a 10 inch diameter stainless steel shallow platter).
5. Steam for 30 minutes. Remove from steamer and set aside. (If you don't have a steamer, you can place all the pieces standing upright directly in a pan with a lid and add 1 c water. Cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes, then transfer the 16 pieces to a platter and proceed to step 6.)
6. In a separate bowl, make the gravy by mixing the cornstarch with water and the accumulated juices from the steamed stuffed aburaage. Pour the cornstarch mix into a small pot and heat under medium heat with constant stirring until the sauce thickens. Pour sauce over stuffed aburaage and serve hot.