Preparation time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 1 hour
Total time: 2 hours
Servings: 6-8
Ingredients:
1 lb of chicken liver (as fresh as possible, still red, not too black or any other strange color — we bought it from Walmart)
1.5 lbs of pork belly
4 red pearl onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 slices of sandwich bread (we used white bread)
Fresh milk (we used whole milk)
6 oz butter
Cooking oil (we used vegetable oil)
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon chicken powder (or msg)
2 pinches of pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Step 1: Clean the Liver
Cut off the ligaments and gallbladders (if any) from the livers. Score each piece of liver, and place all in a bowl. Pour enough milk in and let it soak for about 30 minutes. Occasionally flip/stir using chopsticks. This removes the bad materials from the livers. Set aside.
Step 2: Meat Preparation (while liver is soaking in milk)
Wash the pork belly/shoulder butt. Slice the fat parts off as thin as possible (we found it easier to slice very thin pieces when the meat is still frozen). Chill thin pieces of fat in the fridge— they will be used later. These thinly sliced fats will be used to layer the bottom of your baking dish, and also layer the top of the pate later.
Cut the rest of the pork into small pieces and throw them in a food processor. Blend with 1/2 teaspoon of chicken powder (or msg), 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of pepper. Scoop blended pork out into a bowl and set aside.
Step 3: Fry the Liver
It should have been 30 minutes by now, wash the liver well with water, and pat dry with paper towel. Cut each liver into 2–3 pieces.
Drizzle oil and 2 oz of butter onto a pan, medium fire until butter is melted. Throw in half of the chopped garlic and onion, and cook until fragrant. Then add the liver, 1/2 teaspoon of chicken powder (or msg), and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Stir often until right before livers are well cooked (keep it a bit under cooked), transfer all into a bowl.
Step 4: Bread Preparation
In conjunction with Step 5: Fry Pork (below)
Remove crust from bread and soak them in fresh milk for about 2 minutes. Gently squeeze milk out of the bread.
Step 5: Fry the Pork
Drizzle oil and 2 oz of butter onto a pan, medium fire until butter is melted. Toss in blended pork and rest of chopped garlic and onions. Stir often, fry until right before it is well cooked.
Turn off fire, add milk-soaked-and-squeezed-out bread pieces and mix well with the pork.
Step 6: Blend the Liver
In a food processor, briefly blend the cooked livers. Don’t worry about chunky pieces, they can be mashed by a spoon afterward. Scoop out blended liver into a bowl and set aside.
Step 7: Blend the Cooked Pork & Bread (from Step 5)& Combine with Liver
In a food processor, blend all the cooked pork and bread together until smooth. Scoop out the blended cooked pork & bread and combine with the blended liver. Mix and mash well with a fork or a spoon.
Step 8: Preparing to Steam
In a baking (glass or ceramic) dish (or dishes if it is too small) of your choice (perfect if they come with glass lids), slather butter to all of the inner sides and bottom surface. Lay a thin layer of the thinly sliced fat from Step 2 covering the bottom of the baking dish. Pour blended pate mixture in and smooth it out. Lay another thin layer of the sliced fat on top of the blended pate, and slather another layer of butter on top of the fat. Lid on. If you do not have a proper lid for the baking dish, use aluminium foil to cover.
Note: Do not fill the baking dish to the top. Leave room for the pate to expand and puff up.
Step 9: Steam
Fill a separate baking tray (bigger than your baking dish) with an inch of water, heat it up in the oven at 350°F until almost boiling. Place baking dish with paté onto the baking tray with the water, steam for 30 minutes.
Turn oven down to 325°F and steam for 20 minutes.
- We like it a bit dry and burnt on top so we remove it from the oven to remove the lid/aluminum foil, and place it back into the oven at 350°F for another 10 minutes.
- If you don’t want it to be dry and burnt on the top, turn it up to 350°F and steam for another 10 minutes.
Turn of the oven. Leave it inside the oven for at least 30 minutes for it to slowly cool off.
Remove from oven, leave it at room temperature until it is cool.
You will still see liquid around your paté but don’t worry, it will be solidified by low temperature later.
Step 10: Serve and Enjoy!
Pate can be served cold or hot.
When it is cooled off, serve pate immediately or place it in the fridge for a few hours then enjoy!
Scoop it out and serve with sticky rice, or slice and spread on bread!
Note: Store pate in the fridge for 3–4 days. If you plan to store it longer, better put it in the freezer. Recipe may vary based on temperature and the type of oven you have.
