- 7 oz. boneless pork belly, with skin
- 6 baby leeks, trimmed (or Chinese leaf garlic)
- 2 tbsps cooking oil
- 1 tbsp chili bean paste
- 1 tsp sweet bean paste
- 2 tsps fermented black beans, rinsed & drained
- ½ tsp dark soy sauce
- ½ tsp sugar
- salt, to taste
- a few slices fresh red chili, or bell pepper, for color
ingredients
directions
1. Place the pork in a sauce pan, cover with water and bring to a boil, then simmer gently until just cooked through (probably about 20 minutes, depending on dimensions): lift it from the water with a slotted spoon and pierce with a skewer to make sure the juices run clear. Let it cool a bit, then refrigerate for several hours or overnight to cool completely. |
2. When the meat is completely cold, slice it thinly. Each slice should have a strip of skin along the top. If your slices are very large, you may wish to cut them into a couple of pieces; each slice should make a good mouthful. Holding your knife at an angle, cut the leeks into diagonal slices. |
3. Add the oil or lard to a seasoned wok over a high flame, add the pork slices, reduce the heat to medium and stir-fry until they have become slightly curved, some of their fat has melted out and they smell delicious. Then push the slices to the side of the wok and tip the chili bean paste into the space your have created at the bottom. Stir-fry the paste until the oil is red and fragrant, then add the sweet bean paste and the black beans. Stir-fry for a few seconds more to release their aromas, then mix everything together, adding the soy sauce, the sugar and salt to taste, if you need it. |
4. Finally, add the leeks or leaf garlic and the red pepper and continue to stir-fry until they are just cooked. Serve. |
Notes
 Variations: Many kinds of vegetable ingredients can be used instead of the leeks or leaf garlic. In Sichuan, the classic accompaniment to the pork is garlic leaves (qing sun or sun miao), which can occasionally be found in Chinese supermarkets in the West. You might use another Chinese variety of garlic, jiao you, slicing the whole stems and bulbs on the diagonal; white onions, sliced; red or green bell peppers or a mixture of both (first stir-fry them separately to “break their rawness”); salt-preserved cabbage or mustard greens (first rinse them to get rid of excess salt); even spinach leaves. |
Categories
Chinese
