Potatoes were thought to be brought to China during the Qing Dynasty by Spanish merchants. There are many ways of saying potatoes in Chinese. The most common way of saying it in mainland China is馬鈴薯 (mǎ líng shǔ) and 土豆 (tǔ dòu). In Cantonese, it’s 薯仔(shu zai). It’s interesting that different regions in China have different names for it. Ever since the Qing Dynasty, there are many Chinese dishes that incorporate potatoes. Anyways, on to our featured dish, the Hash Brown Pork Patties 香煎豬肉薯餅.
One popular family-style potato dish is the potato and pork patties. You can make this dish with mashed potatoes combined with ground pork to form a pattie and then pan fried. These patties are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Some recipes use grated potatoes to make the pattie as well.
Making mashed potatoes can be quite time-consuming so in my recipe, I use frozen store-bought hash browns. It’s a very quick way to make a dish that everyone loves. Using hash browns is not only quick and easy, it gives the patties an extra crunch and extra flavor since we will fry it first, cut it up and then fry it again with the pork. When I pair this dish with rice, I like to make a light sweet soy sauce to cover it. You can also make this into a breakfast sandwich by putting it into English muffins or eat them with toast. Another favourite of mine is to serve them with Chinese steamed buns (刮包, gūa bāo).
The idea of using hash browns instead of the usual mashed potatoes came to me when I was eating a Sausage Egg McMuffin with hash browns at McDonald’s. I was in a hurry, so I decided to put the hash browns into the muffin and eat it all together…and it was really good!
Try this simple Hash Brown Pork Patties 香煎豬肉薯餅 recipe to make a Chinese hamburger or serve it with rice. It’s sure to be a hit!
Hash Brown Pork Patties 香煎豬肉薯餅
Ingredients
- 250-300 g Ground pork
- 3 Hash browns , Frozen store-bought
- 1-2 stalks Green onions , chopped
- 2 tsp Corn starch to be added to the meat mixture
- 3 tbsp Corn starch to be patted on the patties
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- ¼ tsp Garlic powder
- 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
- 3 tbsp Oil for frying hash browns
- 2 tbsp Oil for frying patties
Slurry (optional)
- 1 tsp Corn starch
- 2 tsp Sweet soy sauce
- 120 ml Water
Instructions
- Add ¼ tsp of salt to the ground pork and mix in one direction with your fingers for 1-2 minutes
This will help create elasticity so the pattie doesn’t easily fall apart during frying - Add ½ tsp sugar, 1 tsp soy sauce, ¼ tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp cooking wine, 2 tsp cornstarch and three quarters of the green onions to the meat and continue mixing in one direction until well-mixed and set aside
- Make the slurry by combining 1 tsp cornstarch, 2 teaspoon sweet soy sauce and 120 ml water and set aside
Slurry is optional. No slurry will mean crispier patties - Add 3 tbsp oil to frying pan and fry hash browns from frozen state at medium heat. Fry for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden colour. If they are browning too quickly, turn down the heat a bit. Add more oil if the hash browns absorb all the oil. Once both sides are golden in colour, remove from heat and let it cool for 5 minutes on a grid tray or plate
- Cut the hash browns into approx. 5mm pieces
- Add hash browns to meat mixture and mix together
- Put 3 tbsp of cornstarch on a plate
- Form a 5 cm ball of the meat mixture in your palm and gently press together with the palms of your hands. Don’t flatten the meat mixture at this point so keep your knuckles and fingers bent. Gently transfer it from your right palm to your left palm a few times to create elasticity so that the meat can bind tightly together.
- Flatten the meat mixture with your palms to make a pattie shape. Try to flatten to approx. 1 cm thick. Then place onto the cornstarch on the plate, pat both sides with cornstarch and set aside. Repeat until you use all the meat mixture
I was able to get 8 patties that were approx. 6 cm in diameter - Heat a pan at medium heat and add approx. 2 tbsp of oil. Fry the patties on both sides until cooked; approx. 2 minutes per side. Do not crowd the pan, fry the patties in separate batches if necessary
If pan is crowded, the patties will not brown and will not be crispy
Slurry (optional)
- Lower the heat to low, remove the patties from the pan, remove the excess oil from the pan, stir the slurry, pour into the pan, stir until thickened and turn off heat
- Return the patties into the pan so that all the patties are covered with the sauce
- Place onto serving plate and top with the remaining green onions
The pork patties are great and so easy to make.
Hi Catherine, this is one of my son’s favorites! I just made it the other day. I made 10 patties, I had 2 and he had 8! Thanks for trying out my recipe! Happy cooking!
The frozen hash brown potato I can buy arounnd here comes in a bag of loose, partlly cooked potato shreds that aren't formed into patties yet. It would be helpful to know how many cups of potato shreds, or maybe the weight of the hash browns which you use? Thanks, looks like a tasty recipe!
Hi there! I typically add 70% of the weight of the pork in hash browns. The hash brown patties I get here are 60g each. For example, if I use 250g of pork, I use 3 patties or 180g of hash browns. It's hard for me to measure in "cups" because I can't determine the density of the product available to you. However, if I had to estimate, I would say it would be close to 3/4 cup. Plus, this dish is very versatile....if you like hash browns, you could definitely use equal portions or more relative to the pork. I'm not kidding when I say this is my son's favourite dish! I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. I'd love to see your finished product! Good luck and happy cooking!