Pickled Cabbage and Pork Stir-Fry (酸白菜炒豬肉)

I love adding sourish taste to my savory dishes, so there are a quite a lot of recipes involved some type of vinegar or citrus. Sometimes I don't even have to use these seasonings, instead, naturally fermented ingredients will do the job for me, like the pickled cabbage used here.

Pickled cabbage and pork stir-fry -

Ingredients?

Marinade -
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons Chinese cooking wine
1/2 tablespoon corn starch

Others -
0.7 lb to 1 lb thick cut pork slices
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb pickled cabbage
2 to 3 garlic cloves 
2 big red chilies 
1 stalk scallion (optional)

How?

Cut the pork into bite size pieces. Mix together all the marinade ingredients and massage the pork with it. Marinate for at least 10 minutes before cooking.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves. Trim off scallion stem and cut into about 2-inch long sections. Trim off chili stems and remove the seeds, cut diagonally. These larger sized chilies are not as spicy as smaller ones such as Thai chili, just choose whichever one per your preference.

Store-bought pickled cabbage can be very sourish, so it is recommended to rinse the cabbage under water then squeeze dry before cooking. Chop into shorter sections once dried.

Drizzle some oil to the pan and turn to medium high heat. Once hot, add in the pork along with any remaining marinade. Stir-fry till nearly cooked through, scoop out the pork and set aside for later use.

Use the same pan and remaining oil, add the garlic and chilies, cook till aromatic and the garlic turns slightly golden browned, but not burnt.

Bump up the heat a little bit. Transfer the cabbage to the pan and give it a quick stir, mainly just to heat it up in order to release the flavors.

Transfer the pork back to the pan, cook for another 30 seconds. If using scallion, add the scallion sections now and give it a quick stir before moving to a serving plate.

Try to use belly or other fatter section of the pork. The pork fat pairs very well with pickled cabbage since the sourness helps cutting through the oily taste but in a way the pork fat softens the sharp texture from the pickled cabbage.

See if you can find some pickled cabbage at your local Asian groceries, they should be found somewhere around the fridge aisle. 


Other meaty Asian stir-fry recipes:

• Oyster sauce beef stir-fry (蠔油牛肉)
• Young ginger on hand, how about Japanese ginger pork 豚の生姜焼き for dinner?
• Kimchi chicken stir fry - the sour and spicy kick will make you craving for me
• Quick and easy Chinese stir-fry with thick cut Matsuzaka pork and salted black beans 蒜苗炒臘肉