Taiwanese minced pork rice is a classic Taiwan dish. Depends on personal tastes and regions, there are a few varieties. Some use pork belly instead of minced pork; some add shiitake mushroom; some use eggs; some serve with noodles. But the main ingredients are always pork, shallot, and soy sauce.
When I first came to the US, I have met a few friends from Taiwan. We had Taiwanese food quite often. There were two things that I liked the most. One was this minced pork rice and the other was pig’s blood cake. The pig’s blood cake may sounds scary. It is black in color. It is definitely weird, but it has great texture and tastes delicious. Ever since those Taiwanese friends went back to Taiwan, I rarely go to Taiwanese restaurants any more. But every now and then, I still dream about those comforting flavors of that minced pork rice.
This recipe is from the blog Taiwan Duck. The blog features many authentic Taiwanese recipes. I am glad to find this minced pork rice. I made a few adjust, like adding shiitake mushrooms and making my own fried shallots. The dish was savory and tasty. The pork and mushroom absorbed all those wonderful flavors from the broth. The eggs were also cooked in the broth for a while and they picked up the beautiful brown color on the outside. This is an easy dish that everyone will love!
Taiwanese Minced Pork Rice (Adapted from Serious Eats & Taiwan Duck)
3 – 4 servings
Ingredients:
– 1 pound lean ground pork
– 1 garlic clove (minced)
– 7 – 9 dried shiitake mushrooms
– 1 small piece rock sugar (about ½-inch diameter)
– 1 star anise
– ½ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
– 4 tablespoons soy sauce
– 1½ tablespoon dark soy sauce
– ¾ cup crispy fried shallot (recipe follow)
– 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or sake
– 1½ – 2 cups water
– 3 – 4 hard-boiled eggs (peeled) (optional)
– 4 cups hot cooked rice
– 2 green onions (finely chopped) (optional)
Crispy fried shallot:
– 1½ cup vegetable oil
– 1½ cup shallot (thinly sliced)
Directions:
- For the dried mushrooms, rinse them under cold water to clean, and soak them in tap water for at least 5 – 6 hours until the mushrooms are soft. If you want, you can soak them overnight. Pat them dry with paper towels. Remove and discard stems. Cut the mushrooms into ¼-inch dices and set aside.
- Line a small baking sheet or paper plate with paper towels. Set aside.
- For the shallot, in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, add the oil and heat until 325˚F (163˚C). Divide the shallots into 2 batches. Add 1 batch in the oil and fry until golden brown, about 2 – 3 minutes, stirring constantly with a slotted spoon. Adjust the heat if needed. Transfer the fried shallots to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the 2nd batch of shallots. Let the fried shallot cool to room temperature. Reserve 1 tablespoon oil for cooking. Reserve the rest of the oil for other use or discard.
- In a small bowl, combine the Chinese five-spice powder, soy sauce, dark soy sauce and wine. Set aside.
- In a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat, add the 1 tablespoon reserved oil. Add the ground pork and stir until cook through. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Add rock sugar, star anise and the bowl of soy sauce mixture. Stir to mix. Add fried shallot and toss everything together. Add enough water (1½ – 2 cups) to almost completely cover the meat mixture. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down to medium-low. Add the hard-boiled eggs if using. Cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes, turning the eggs every once a while.
- Place hot rice into bowls. Scoop some minced pork over the rice. Slice eggs in half and place in the bowls. Top with green onion and serve.
Tips:
- If you want to save time, you can buy crispy fried shallots from Asian supermarkets instead of making your own. Use about ¾ cup of fried shallots.
- The rock sugar can be substitute with regular sugar.
- You can substitute the rice with noodles.
- If the sauce was too runny, remove the cover for the last 5 minutes of cooking and let it reduce. If the sauce was too thick, add more water.
- This makes great leftover for the next day.
Rice dishes are the best comfort food! This looks so pretty with the eggs on top.
So true! When the rice soak up all the flavors from a sauce, it is irresistible! Thanks, Lisa!
Ahhh minced pork rice is the best!! Is your hardboiled egg a soy sauce egg? Looks so nice 🙂
Thanks a lot, Shelley! I boiled the eggs ahead of time, then cook the hard-boiled eggs with the meat and sauce again. I love that the eggs absorbed some of the flavors from the sauce and that brown color was beautiful.
Oh my goodness, that looks so, so good!! I love your inclusion of the shiitake mushrooms and fried shallots. And the egg absorbing some of that sauce is another layer of awesome! : ) This looks really flavorful. I hadn’t thought enough about it but Taiwanese cuisine is amazing (like beef noodles!). Gotta check out that website; thanks!
Yea, there are some cool recipes at the Taiwan Duck blog. I would love to find out how to make Taiwanese beef noodles too. 🙂
I have made this minced pork dish without fried shallots before. The outcome wasn’t as good, so the fried shallots are crucial. Hope you will try it some day.
Yum! Love your new site, it looks great! 🙂
Thank you so much Maryanne! I am very happy about it!
Whoa! How did I miss this!? It looks really, really delicious! And your pictures are simple and perfect! I’ve never stir fried with rock sugar…must try to taste the taste difference…thanks for sharing!! 😉
Thanks a lot Bonnie! It is more like braising with rock sugar. This is a really flavorful dish. I hope you will like it!
This looks wonderful!! Asian food is the one cuisine I am least familiar with but want to learn more about! I would love, love to make this.
Thank you Samantha! This dish is pretty easy and pack with flavors. Let me know how it goes if you try it. Thanks for stopping by.
This one looks soooooo delicious!
Just pinned to save it. I’m definitely gonna cook this one on the weekend! 🙂
Thank you Maggie! The flavors of this minced pork rice were amazing. I am craving for some now. I hope you will try it!
Wow, I love Taiwanese cuisine too and this minced pork looks perfect and super tasty! I love that you made your own crispy fried shallots too – yum 🙂
Thanks Kelly! The fried shallots were so easy to make and didn’t require much time and effort. I think it is better than buying the finished product from the supermarket. 🙂
We love this Taiwanese minced pork over rice!!! And I do have rock sugar… it makes it so delicious. I get addicted to using this sugar to other dishes. =P Yours look perfect and I love that you served with eggs. There’s something about me that I always want eggs over the dish.
Thank you Nami! My husband loves eggs! At first, I didn’t think of using eggs in the dish, but my husband insisted me to add eggs. I am so glad I did! The egg was a really nice touch to the dish.
Love this dish, the egg just makes everything better!
Agree! Beautifully cooked egg makes a dish much better! 🙂
Perusing your site and this dish caught my eye. Looks delicious!
Thank you Bill! This rice is delish! Hope you will have a chance to try it! Thanks for stopping by.
Ooh, I love finding recipes like this!! i.e. I scanned the list and I have EVERYTHING (even the mince!). That’s the thing about cooking Asian foods, so many common ingredients 🙂 This reminds me of a similar Japanese dish called “sanshoku bento” which literally translates to “3 toppings on bento”, one of which is mince cooked with similar flavours 🙂 This is TOTALLY my kind of food. When is the west going to discover how great mince is made like this?? 😉
So true! Asian recipes always use the many same ingredients. It is easy to have them on hand.
Ohh… Never heard of sanshoku bento before. Sounds delish! This flavor combination is savory and comforting. Definitely something special!
This dish looks absolutely fabulous! What a great combination of flavours.
Thank you so much! I absolutely love this dish! Very comforting!
Cooked this tonight for the 1st time. Turned out really well! My wife liked it too.
We have some fantastic Taiwanese restaurants here in Vancouver, Canada. Feels good making a simple dish just as well (or better!) than them in the comforts of my home.
Thanks!
Thanks so much for leaving me a feedback! I am thrilled to hear you guys like the recipe! I actually just made this last week too.
It is fun to go eat at restaurants. But sometimes, you just want to curl at home. I totally agree that it is really nice to be able to make something authentic and tasty at the comfortable homes. 😉
Once again, thank you for coming back and dropping me a comment. I really appreciate this. Have a great weekend!
Just made this tonight. Tastes very nice. We added some spinach on the side. Thanks very much for the recipe!