Ingredients
250g Pork Fillet, cut into strips
400ml groundnut oil (for frying)
50g or so cornflour
For the Marinade
1tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp shaosing rice wine
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns dry toasted and ground
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp yellow bean sauce (omit if don't have)
1tsp hoisin sauce
pinch of 5 spice powder
to serve
1 tbsp sesame seeds,toasted
sliced little gem lettuce leaves
1 spring onion, finely sliced
Mix all the marinade ingredients together and toss the pork strips in it to coat. Cover and leave for at least 20 minutes, overnight if you wish (in the fridge)
Heat the oil in a wok to 180 C
Dust the pork pieces in cornflour (this can get stodgy on the fingers, so maybe put a little cornflour at a time out), then place in the hot oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes until golden brown, Best to do this in batches so the oil stays hot. Lift the pieces out and drain on kitchen paper
Places the shredded lettuce on a plate, heap the pork on top and then sprinkle with sesame seeds and spring onion. Enjoy while hot
Method
All the Offspring (and the Late Wife) love chinese food. I know that is a bit generic and that China has a vast range of different cooking styles dependant on area. I think most of us mean Cantonese or Szechuan when we say this and to be sure I am not confident where this fits in. This is not from Mr Peng, but instead from Ching-He Huang, a lady whose style I like a lot for its accessibility andlack of pretension. She did a travelogue-cum-food programme with the great Ken Hom around different parts of China looking at the different food cultures which was fascinating.
Anyway, occasionally when in the mood I will cook up a mini Chinese feast for the Offspring - and I always get requests for this. Ching originally calls it a salad but I serve it as a main alongside others with a large bowl of egg-fried rice and stir-fry vegetables and it goes down a treat.
It is, yet again, the use of Sichuan peppercorns that lend the heat and mouth-numb to this dish which combine with the other ingredients to make a big crispy, salty umami laden treat which has you licking your fingers. My only reservation is the deep frying, but if you are doing any Chinese food of the Cantonese style that kind of goes with the territory. Just don't eat it every day...