This is another favourite of my childhood years in China. It originates from the ShanXi region of China and the making of it can vary quite a lot even within the province. This is my take on it and although it doesn’t compare anywhere near some of the best I’ve had, it’s close enough to make me miss them. The key to this dish is plenty of oil and high heat, everything should be done in as little as 5 minutes! In Chinese the name literally means meat passing through oil by oil they mean very hot oil!

There’s two new ingredient introduced in this recipe which might not be familiar with everyone, I certainly don’t see them in the supermarkets of the UK. So you’ll probably have to pay a visit to your nearest Chinese supermarket with a decent vegetable selection.

The first is garlic shoots, it is absolutely delicious! I can just eat it in everything and as the name suggests it tastes kind of garlicky! Take care when taking this on a bus as the smell will make everyone within a 2 meter radius look at you with suspicion. If it doesn’t smell then it might not be the freshest stuff.

The second ingredient is wood ear. It’s a fungi like mushrooms, but unlike mushrooms, I love this stuff! It adds a very interesting taste and texture to a dish. Due to its large surface area, it’s amazing at absorbing a lot of taste. It usually come dehydrates and will require soaking in warm/hot water for 30 minutes before use.

Ingredients

200 g pork shoulder finely sliced
10-20 fresh garlic shoot shopped in 3 cm chunks (I love it so the more the merrier) if you can’t find it then replace with roughly chopped onion.
1 spring onions roughly chopped
1 large handful of wood-ears soaked and with the slightly hard knobbly bit removed
2 medium tomatos sliced
1 thumb-sized ginger, sliced into strips
3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 large egg
3 tablespoon corn flour
1 tsp black pepper
3 tablespoon all purpose Kikkoman gf soy sauce (or light soy sauce)
2 tablespoons Sanchi gf soy sauce (dark soy sauce)
2 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoon rapeseed oil or groundnut oil/vegetable oil

Utensils

1 medium flat pan

Methods  

1. Thinly slice the pork shoulder.
2. Marinate the pork in egg, corn flour, back pepper, rice wine and light soy sauce for at least 30 minutes (ideally longer).
3. Cover the bottom of the wok with plenty of oil (essential for this dish) then add the pork and fry until browned. whilst frying, prepare the garlic shoot, spring onion, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and woodear. Once the meat is done, set aside for later.
4. Heat the pan with some oil and add the spring onion, ginger and garlic. Fry for 2 minutes until fragrant.
5. Add the fresh garlic shoot and fry for another minute.
6. Add the woodear and stir together.
7. Add the pork, tomatoes and salt and dark soy sauce to taste. Stir everything together on a high heat very quickly.
8. When everything is hot and mixed, add the corn flour mixed with 4 tablespoons of water.
9. Stir fry for another minute and serve!