How Chinese People Stir-fry Pork Belly (The Method of Ganguo-style Dishes)
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This easy Chinese home-style dish - Pork and Onion stir fry (干锅洋葱五花肉), may sound ordinary, but what I truly want to share is the method of Ganguo-style dishes, which is what a legit Chinese normally cooks at home. It is super quick and can be done in 15 minutes. Once you learned, you can draw inferences about other Ganguo-style dishes.
Ingredients
- 454g / 1 pound of skinless pork belly, sliced into 1/8-inch thick pieces
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 Tbsp of Sichuan dou ban jiang
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1.5 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 2 dried red chilies, cut into short pieces
- 3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
- 1/2 inch ginger, sliced thinly
- 1 sweet onion, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 green chili, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 red chili, cut into bite-size pieces
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1/2 tsp Jiaoyan seasoning (can be replaced with 1/4 tsp of salt + 1/4 tsp of five spice powder or watch this video to learn how to make Jianyan at home - https://youtu.be/ki4q-CFC-Ro)
Directions
Turn the heat to high and heat the wok until smoking hot. Add 1.5 tsp of oil just to lubricate the wok surface so the meat doesn’t stick to the metal while cooking. Switch the heat to medium-low and add the pork belly slices. Stir for 3-5 minutes or until the pork becomes golden brown and you see a lot of oil is rendered out.
- Push the pork to the side and tilt the wok so the oil runs to the other side. Remove most of the oil from the wok and reserve it for other uses. Leave 2-3 Tbsps in the wok. Add 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1/2 Tbsp of oyster sauce, 1/2 Tbsp of Sichuan dou ban jiang, 1 tsp of dark soy sauce, 1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine, the garlic slices, ginger slices, and dried red chilies. Stir for a minute or until the pork has a desired brown color.
- Toss in the onion and chili pepper. Switch the heat to high and stir until the vegetables reach your desired doneness. I prefer my onion to be crispy so I only stirred for 1 minute. If you want yours to be soft, you can cook for longer.
- Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of Jiaoyan seasoning, an all-purpose Chinese dry rub that has a complex taste and aroma, which will introduce some mystery flavors and bring this dish to the next level. You can buy Jiaoyan seasoning from the store. If you don’t have access, you can check this video to learn how to make your own (https://youtu.be/ki4q-CFC-Ro). You can also replace it with 1/4 tsp of salt plus 1/4 tsp of five-spice powder.
- This is what we call Ganguo-style foods, which means dried pot, referring to jerky-like meat with a concentrated taste. You can switch the onion to cauliflower, which is another popular dish called Ganguo Huacai (干锅花菜). If you use lotus root, bamboo shoot, or cabbage, then you are making Ganguo Lianou (干锅莲藕), Ganguosun (干锅笋), or Ganguo Baocai (干锅包菜)。The possibilities are endless.
