Steamed pork belly with rice powder – Authentic Sichuan Fen Zheng Rou 粉蒸肉

Fen Zheng Rou 粉蒸肉 which directly translated to “Powder Steamed Meat” is a popular Chinese dish of pork belly steamed with a seasoned rice powder that you probably never heard of.

This homey dish is widely celebrated, it can be found on restaurant menus and in home kitchens in various regions in China. But it’s pretty much unknown in the west.

I want to change that because this dish is amazingly fragrant, aggressive in flavour and deeply comforting. It also happens to be my favourite pork belly dish of all time!

A great way to eat pork belly

The dish goes like this:

1. Slice pork belly into 1/2 cm pieces across all the fatty and lean layers.
2. Season the sliced meat with an array of umami filled fermented ingredients. (no need to leave to marinate)
3. Coated it generously with seasoned, toasted, coarsely ground up rice.
4. Spread on top a bed of root veggies.
5. Steam for a long time.

It sounds really simple, right? That’s because it is. This is basically a one pan dish, not technically difficult and no special skills required. What is required are a couple of special ingredients.

The fermented bean curd

One such special ingredient is the fermented bean curd or fǔrǔ, 腐乳. It’s fresh bean curd, otherwise known as tofu preserved in rice wine, salt and other flavouring. In wet markets in China, they are sold fresh in chunks but most often, they are sold in jars surrounded by a spicy or non-spicy brine.

It has a strong pungent flavour and the texture of soft creamy cheese. In all honesty, this is something of an acquired taste. It’s got a “stinky” fermented smell and a slightly slimy exterior (the ones found in jars).

True lovers of fǔrǔ, 腐乳 like to eat them straight up with congee /rice porridge but more often than not, it is used as a flavouring agent or condiment for meats and vegetables. It adds a ultra umami flavour that is unique and can’t be replicated.

It is not absolutely essential for this steamed pork belly with rice powder, but I highly recommended using it if you are looking for an authentic tasting dish. You won’t taste it directly, but it really boosts the savouriness of the meat and add a pleasant “cheesy” after taste to the pork.

And now a days, fǔrǔ, 腐乳 can be readily found in Asian grocery stores around the world. And once opened, keep in the fridge and use clean utensil each time to prevent contamination. It’ll last in the refrigerator for months or even a year, so that you’ll have it on hand the next time you make this dish!

The Toasted rice powder

This is not the Thai version which uses only glutinous / sweet rice, toasted really dark and is pounded until powder fine. The Chinese version that’s used to make Fen Zheng Rou 粉蒸肉 uses both regular white and sweet rice, is lightly toasted and only coarsely grind up. While the Thai version is often used in salads and eaten as is, Chinese rice powder requires further cooking such as steaming.

What does it bring to the party? Well, it provides a soft coating that wraps each piece of meat with flavour, it adds a subtle nuttiness to the bite and it helps to soak up some of the fat that comes out of the fatty pork belly meat…trust me, this is a good thing! Be generous with it because it’s as important as the meat itself.

To simplify the process, I mostly use store bought powders that are usually seasoned with Chinese 5 spice or chillies. Some are brands are better than others and my preferred is /…. It contains some salt, so I’ve adjusted the salt in the meat seasoning accordingly.

If however, you can’t source it or you want to make it yourself. Toast equal amounts of regular and sweet/glutinous rice until light brown. Coarsely pound in a mortar and pestle or food processor and then stir in some Chinese 5 spice powder and salt.

The accompanying veggies

Very often, the pork belly is steamed over a layer of root vegetables. These are some of the BEST tasting vegetables because the fatty oils seeps down and flavours them. I used 2 different types of sweet potatoes here but other veggies that would also be great here are potatoes, pumpkin, taro, soy beans or even peas.

The cooking vessel

To get the most even and fastest penetration of steam to meat, I find that a bamboo steamer is very effective. Veggies on the bottom with the meat spread evenly over. Serve in the steamer for a nice presentation.

If you don’t have a bamboo steamer, find a large bowl and overlap the pork slices nicely on the bottom of the bowl, top with veggies and put the whole bowl into the your steamer. After cooking, carefully invert the hot bowl onto a plate so that now you’ll have a dome of meat with nicely arranged slices of pork belly on top and veggies underneath.

Want more delicious and authentic Chinese pork recipes? Check out:

Lu Rou Fan – Braised Pork Over Rice 滷肉飯
Yu Xiang Rou Si / “Fish-Fragrant” Stir Fry Pork 鱼香肉丝
Sweet And Sour Riblets 糖醋排骨
Sichuan “Shui Zhu” Pork – Spicy And Numbing Water Poached Pork 水煮肉片