China · Sichuan
Sichuan Poached Pork in Chili Broth
Thin slices of pork poached in a red chili broth with bean sprouts and celery, crowned with chopped chili and a ladle of smoking hot oil.
This is the dish Sichuan cooking is most often judged by, and it looks fiercer than it is. Three things have to happen separately: the meat is coated and held, the broth is seasoned, and the chili and peppercorn are dry-fried and chopped on their own to make the topping. Pouring the oil over all three at the end is the finish, not a garnish.
Ingredients
- amount of pork loin300 g
- scallion2 pieces
- ginger10 g
- garlic20 g
- red pickled chiliExact
- garlic scapes2 pieces
- celery3 pieces
- chili bean paste5 ml
- chicken bouillon1.5 g
- light soy sauce5 g
- salt5 g
- ground white pepper2 g
- cooking wine3 g
- egg white1 pieces
- potato starch7 g
- vegetable oil280 g
- rapeseed oil200 g
- mung bean sprouts100 g
- spicy lettuce stem1 pieces
- sugar1 g
- dried bird's eye chiliExact
- green Sichuan peppercorn5 g
Directions
- 1
Cut the pork loin into small blocks and then into two millimeter slices, adjusting to your own preference, put them in a bowl and rinse twice in cold water to remove the blood and impurities, then drain and squeeze dry.
- 2
To the bowl add one and a half grams of salt, one gram of white pepper, five grams of light soy sauce and three grams of cooking wine, and stir in one direction for two minutes to season.
- 3
In another bowl add one egg white and seven grams of potato starch, stir in one direction until evenly mixed, then pour it into the meat.
- 4
Take a hundred grams of mung bean sprouts, one spicy lettuce stem cut into small strips, three stalks of celery cut into short lengths and two garlic scapes smashed and cut into short lengths.
- 5
Mince twenty grams of garlic, mince the ginger and mince twenty grams of red pickled chili.
- 6
Take fifteen grams of dried bird's eye chili and three grams of green Sichuan peppercorn. Add oil to the wok and slick the surface; once it is just warm, pour out the excess, keeping fifty grams of oil, then add the dried chili and peppercorn and fry over low heat until fragrant. Be careful not to scorch them; they only need to darken. Tip them out onto a board and chop finely.
- 7
Heat the wok, add a hundred grams of vegetable oil and heat it to sixty percent, add two grams of green Sichuan peppercorn and the dried chili and fry until fragrant. Add the vegetables with one gram of salt and fry until just cooked, then tip them into the bowl as a base.
- 8
Wash the wok, add a hundred fifty grams of vegetable oil and heat it to sixty percent, add the prepared ginger, garlic and pickled chili and fry until fragrant, then add ten grams of bean paste and fry over low heat until fragrant and the oil turns red.
- 9
Add eight hundred milliliters of water, adjusting to suit, bring to a boil over high heat, then drop to low heat and season with two and a half grams of salt, one and a half grams of chicken bouillon, one gram of sugar and one gram of white pepper, with five grams of slurry if needed, and reduce the broth slightly.
- 10
Once the broth boils, lower the heat and slide the marinated pork slices in one at a time, then raise the heat to medium and poach them through, nudging gently with a spatula so they do not stick together. Once the broth boils again and the pork is cooked, lift it out into the bowl over the vegetables and pour the broth back in, no more than the dish will hold.
- 11
Scatter the chopped chili and peppercorn, the minced garlic and the chopped scallion evenly over the surface.
- 12
Wash the wok, add two hundred grams of rapeseed oil and heat it to seventy percent, then pour it evenly over the pork in one go; take care, as this is hot, and the dish is finished.
Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.