Medium
4
Published 2018
This Hunan specialty, which was one of Mao’s favourite dishes, is a bit like pork candy. The meat is braised in a sugary rice wine and soy liquid and slowly softens until it is meltingly tender and coated in a sticky sweet-and-sour sauce. Chinese rock sugar makes this dish very authentic and you can easily buy it online, but feel free to use normal caster sugar instead.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the pork and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Chop the meat into
Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a medium–high heat. Add the pork in batches and brown on both sides. Remove from the pan and add the ginger and the chopped white part of the spring onions. Sauté for 3–4 minutes until soft and then add the finely crushed rock sugar. Stir constantly until melted.
Add the pork back in and stir for 1–2 minutes. Add the soy sauces, rice wine, vinegar, star anise, dried chilli and
Remove the spices and discard. Serve the pork sprinkled with the chopped green spring onions and bowls of rice alongside.
© 2018 All rights reserved. Published by Murdoch Books.