Chinese New Year Meal #2 - Salt-Fried Pork

For our second Chinese New Year meal, I had to make pork.  I told Alex to look at our two Fuchsia Dunlop cookbooks and pick a recipe to try.  This is what he picked, which is no shock whatsoever because Alex loves pork above all proteins and pork belly in particular.  Plus he loves Sichuan food, so it was practically a given.  I took one bite, turned to look at him, and told him "you're really going to like this."  And he did.  The dish isn't as spicy as you would expect given its Sichuan origins, but it reminds me of everything good about homestyle Chinese cooking - a few fresh ingredients, a lot of flavor, and a short cooking time.  Homestyle Sichuan cooking tends to be salty, beany (and like I said in my previous post on Fisherman's Shrimp with Chinese Chives and Hand-Torn Cabbage, those beans are crazy pungent, but delicious) and just a little spicy rather than blow your tastebuds incendiary.  We served the pork with some baby bok choy sauteed with ginger and garlic and plain white rice.  Such a fantastic meal.  I honestly can't think of a single way in which I would change the pork, it was absolutely perfect as it was.

Next up, Lamb with Chili, Cumin and Garlic and some fried rice!

Recipe after the jump!

Salt-Fried Pork

Land of Plenty: Authentic Sichuan Recipes Personally Gathered in the Chinese Province of Sichuan

By Fuchsia Dunlop

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb fresh, boneless pork belly

2-3 baby leeks, or 5 scallions, including white and green parts 

peanut oil

salt to taste

1 1/2 tbsp Sichuanese chili bean paste

1 1/2 tbsp fermented black beans

1 tsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

Cut pork into very thin slices, about 1/4-inch thick, 3 inches wide, and 2 inches tall.  Cut the leeks thinly, at a steep angle, into slices 1 1/2 inches long.  If you're using scallions, cut them thinly on the bias.

Season the wok.  Add 3 tbsp peanut oil and heat until hot, but not smoking.  Add pork and stir-fry briskly until the oil has cleared and the pork has lost most of its water content, about 3-4 minutes.  Add a pinch of salt about halfway through the cooking.

When the oil has cleared and begins to sizzle, push the pork slices up one side of the wok and tilt the wok until the oil runs into the space you have created.  Add chili bean paste and fermented black beans.  Stir-fry until oil is red and fragrant.  Mix in pork slices, add soy sauce and sugar.  Toss to combine.  Stir in leeks or scallions and stir-fry until the leeks are just cooked, seasoning with salt to taste.

Serve.