Prep Raw, Eat Fresh: Friday Meal recipes
Friday's menu: Steamed Pork Cake with Egg · Cabbage shrimp rolls· Tomato Cauliflower Soup Steamed Pork Cake with Egg 蒸肉饼（加鸡蛋） | ⏱ Prep: 10 min | 🍽 Serves: 4 Steam...
Friday's menu: Steamed Pork Cake with Egg · Cabbage shrimp rolls· Tomato Cauliflower Soup
Steamed Pork Cake with Egg 蒸肉饼（加鸡蛋） | ⏱ Prep: 10 min | 🍽 Serves: 4
Steam from fresh: 20 minutes | Steam from frozen: 30 minutes
This is the most sentimental dish of the whole week. Every Chinese kid grew up eating steamed pork cake — it is the dish your mom made when she wanted dinner done fast and everyone happy. The egg is the magic trick: you make a little dent in the center of the raw frozen pork, and on Friday morning you crack the egg right into that frozen dent. Thirty minutes later, you have a perfectly set egg sitting in the center of a juicy, tender pork cake. It never gets old.
INGREDIENTS
• 1¼ lb (565g) master marinated ground pork (from Foundation 3)
• 1–2 eggs (鸡蛋 1-2个, added at COOK TIME, not when freezing)
• A little neutral oil (食用油 少许) to brush the container
• Sliced scallion (葱 适量) for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Lightly brush the inside of your container with neutral oil
2. Add the marinated ground pork and press flat into an even layer
3. Use your thumb to press a dent into the center of the pork — this is where the egg will sit
4. Seal and freeze WITHOUT the egg
5. On Friday: take the frozen pork cake out of the freezer
6. Standard method: Crack 1 or 2 eggs directly into the frozen thumb dent — the frozen pork holds the egg in place perfectly. Steam on high for 30 minutes. At the 10-minute mark, slide garlic broccoli onto the upper rack.
7. For a more tender, jammy yolk: Place the frozen pork cake in the steamer WITHOUT the egg first. Steam for 20–25 minutes until the pork is mostly cooked through. Then open the steamer, crack the egg into the dent, and continue steaming for another 8–10 minutes. This gives you a fully cooked pork cake with a softer, runnier yolk.
8. Garnish with sliced scallion and serve immediately
Chinese Mom Tip: Two ways to cook this dish depending on how you like your egg. All-at-once method: crack egg into frozen pork, steam 30 minutes — you get a set white and lightly jammy yolk. Staged method: steam pork 20–25 minutes first, then add egg and steam 8–10 more minutes — you get a more tender, softer yolk with a fully cooked pork base. Both are good, Choose based on your preference.
Napa Cabbage Shrimp Rolls with Glass Noodles 白菜虾丸卷 | ⏱ Prep: 10 min | 🍽 Serves: 4
Steam from fresh: 12–15 minutes | Steam from frozen: 15–18 minutes
This is the most elegant-looking dish of the whole week and it uses the same shrimp paste from Wednesday's shrimp ball soup — one preparation, two completely different dishes. Soft napa cabbage leaves are rolled around shrimp paste into little bundles, then nestled on a bed of glass noodles. When steamed, the cabbage becomes silky and translucent and the shrimp paste inside stays juicy and bouncy. It looks like it took hours. It did not.
INGREDIENTS
• ½ lb (225g) shrimp paste (虾滑 225克) — same batch as Wednesday's Shrimp Ball Soup, divided on Sunday
• 8–10 large napa cabbage leaves (娃娃菜叶 8-10片), whole outer leaves
• 1 bundle glass noodles (粉丝 1把), soaked in cold water until soft, drained very well
• Salt to taste (盐 适量)
• Scallion (葱) for garnish
• Foundation 4 sweet & sour sauce (料汁) or garlic sauce (蒜蓉酱) to drizzle — optional
INSTRUCTIONS
1. On Sunday, make the shrimp paste for both Wednesday and Friday at the same time — blend shrimp with carrot, cornstarch, and salt in the food processor until smooth and bouncy. Divide into two equal portions before you start.
2. Soak glass noodles in cold water until fully soft. Drain very thoroughly and pat dry — wet noodles freeze into a solid block.
3. Lay a napa cabbage leaf flat on your work surface
4. Place a generous spoonful of shrimp paste at the base of the leaf
5. Roll the leaf firmly around the shrimp paste like a bundle — tuck the sides in as you roll to keep the filling sealed inside
6. Repeat for all leaves — you should get 8–10 rolls depending on leaf size
7. Layer the drained glass noodles evenly in the bottom of your container
8. Arrange the cabbage rolls on top of the noodles seam-side down so they stay closed during freezing and steaming
9. Seal and freeze
10. To cook from frozen: steam on high 15–18 minutes
11. To cook fresh: steam 12–15 minutes
12. Garnish with sliced scallion. Drizzle with sweet & sour sauce or garlic sauce if you like.
Chinese Mom Tip: Divide the shrimp paste on Sunday before you do anything else — half goes into balls for Wednesday soup, half goes into Friday's cabbage rolls. Same five minutes of blending on Sunday gives you two completely different dishes on two different nights. That is Chinese mom math.
Tomato and Cauliflower Soup 番茄花菜汤 | ⏱ Prep: 10 min | 🍽 Serves: 4
Steam from fresh: 20 minutes | Steam from frozen: 25 minutes
A bright, slightly tangy soup to end the week on. The tomatoes break down completely during steaming and create a natural red broth around the cauliflower. Light enough to let the pork cake shine but substantial enough to complete the meal. This can steam in the same steamer as the pork cake at the same time.
INGREDIENTS
• 2 medium tomatoes (番茄 2个), cut into wedges
• ½ head cauliflower (花菜 半颗), cut into florets, blanched 2 minutes
• 2 cups chicken stock or water (鸡汤或水, added at cook time)
• Salt to taste (盐 适量)
• 1 teaspoon chicken powder (鸡精 1茶匙) — optional
• Scallion (葱) for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
16. Blanch cauliflower florets for 2 minutes, transfer to ice water, drain well
17. Combine tomato wedges and blanched cauliflower in your container
18. Seal and freeze — do NOT add liquid yet
19. To cook from frozen: add chicken stock or water to the container
20. Steam 25 minutes on high — can go in the same steamer as the pork cake
21. Before serving, taste and season with salt and chicken powder if using
22. Garnish with sliced scallion
Chinese Mom Tip: This soup and the pork cake can steam simultaneously — put them both in the steamer at the same time. Friday dinner is on the table in 30 minutes with zero active cooking.