Let’s Do Lunch: Gluten-Free Claypot Pork & Shiitake Meat Loaf

Sponsored by TooToo Organic Farm (沱沱工社) – find all of the organic, natural, and healthy ingredients you’ll need for this recipe and more by visiting their English online shopping website: shop.tootoo.cn - it’s easy to make orders and get your products via TooToo’s own Cold-Chain logistics system to your door. Ask your favorite restaurant where they source their food supplies – TooToo Organic Farm can be your reliable resource! 

Healthy eating may seem like a daunting prospect in Beijing. Food safety scares frequently pop up in news headlines; sweets and junk food are cheap and readily available; and fresh ingredients can often be hard to come by. Forward thinking entrepreneurs have stepped up to tackle these issues, opening farms and starting supply and distribution chains in and near Beijing to help satisfy the demand for healthy, safe organic products. But this burgeoning industry is still in its infancy, and must overcome numerous hurdles before it comes close to maturity. Spikes in pricing, concerns about soil contamination and, above all, the false or misleading labeling all undermine Beijingers trust in the local organic food industry.

Problems aside, Jun Trinh hasn’t just taken these challenges on – he’s also raised the stakes for himself and his business by cooking up gluten free dishes. Trinh, the chef and owner at 4corners, a Vietnamese fusion restaurant in Gulou, concedes that going gluten-free can be extremely difficult in China. After all, the Western craze of cutting the fattening wheat protein hasn’t even begun to catch on in China. For Trinh, ditching gluten isn’t about being trendy, it’s an absolute necessity.

“I was having serious pain issues in my heart and in my spleen,” Trinh says of an incident five months ago, adding: “I kept going to local doctors and no one could tell me what was wrong with me. Once, when I was pretty much crippled from the pain and doubled over, I realized that for the entire day I had been eating nothing but wheat based products, and drinking nothing but wheat based products like beer.”

His gluten free diet has alleviated those and other symptoms. “I no longer have sleep apnea. I seem to be less moody, although everyone in my kitchen might disagree,” he says with a laugh.

And while going gluten-free has helped Trinh become functional once again, along with leading him to revolutionize his business (gutting the wheat based protein from his menu, and building a gluten free ingredient shop next to his restaurant), the chef admits that such a drastic diet change won’t work for everyone.

“Cutting out gluten can be a great way to lose weight, but you have to be careful,” he says, adding that the West’s gluten free craze, if unchecked, could cause more harm than good. “When you’re removing foods and ingredients from your diet, research what you’re replacing those items with. Some people that go gluten-free end up eating too much sugary substitutes. It won’t be more healthy if you go diabetic. Or a lot of people that go vegetarian go on to eat too much bread and carbohydrates to attain that familiar feeling of being full, and in the end they wind up malnourished.”

But Trinh adds that a measured, gradual weaning from, or reduction of, gluten can make for a far healthier diet. It can also push foodies to try more creative recipes that might not have occurred to them otherwise. Case in point: a clay pot pork and shiitake meat loaf dish that is influenced by his recent healthy approach and his Vietnamese heritage. It is a slightly spicy dish that is light enough for health nuts, but rife with enough pork to satisfy the most ravenous of carnivores. Its shiitake mushrooms have a distinct, unforgettably chewy texture.

Aside from the coconut oil, minced onion, and potato/corn starch, we sourced all of the ingredients in this recipe from Tootoo Organic Farm.

Ingredients:
A standard, medium sized clay cooking pot (which Trinh says can be purchased at most markets).

For the rice …
200 ml long grain scented rice
380 ml warm water
2 tbs coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt

For the pork and shittake meat cake …
60g shiitake mushroom – small diced
150g pork – minced
1 egg white (save the yolk for later)
2 tbs onion – minced
1 clove garlic – minced
2 water chestnuts – small diced
1 tsp sugar
1 pinch of salt
1/2 knob ginger – minced
1 tsp corn or potato starch
1/2 tsp 5-spice powder
2 tbs soy sauce (tamari or GF)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 dash of white pepper
3 stalks of Chinese kale

Directions
NOTE: Prepare this dish the night before you plan on bringing it in your lunch.

1. Mix the pork and shittake meat cake ingredients (listed above) and form into a ball.

2. Cover on a plate and place in fridge to cool.

3. Prepare 3 stalks of Chinese kale by cutting the tough bottom ends, and peeling the tough outer layer up to the leaves.

4. Place the claypot on your stove or burner and turn it on to high to begin cooking the rice. Stir the rice with lard on medium high heat until some of the rice turns semi opaque. Add the water and cover the claypot. Turn the heat to low. For those not using a claypot due to usage of an induction heater, follow all the same steps with a pot or pan with a lid.

5. Once the rice has cooked for 10 mins., place the meat in the claypot and press into a flat loaf with the help of a spatula or spoon. Be sure to leave a small indent in the middle for the egg yolk.

6. Cook for another 10 minutes with the meat and then add the Chinese Kale on the side. Do not yet put the cover on the claypot. Add a 1 tbsp of water.

7. Place the cover on your claypot and turn off the flame.

8. Let rest for 5 minutes before opening the lid and transferring the contents to a suitable container.

About the author: A ravenous foodie and frequent tbj contributor, Kyle Mullin has been working as a freelance reporter in Beijing since 2011.

Photos: Mitch Pe Masilun

This series is sponsored by TooToo Organic Farm. Ask your favorite restaurant where they source their food supplies - TooToo Organic Farm can be their reliable choice!

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