This is officially my first recipe with pictures taken at the new place. With wonderful natural lighting throughout, taking food images is now a lot easier. On top of that, there're so many good spots for me to place cooked meals, and different surfaces to work with. Even though the kitchen is not as spacious, but I love it!
Chinese pickled long beans and ground pork stir-fry 酸豆炒肉末 -
Ingredients?
- 350 grams Chinese pickled long beans
- 250 grams ground pork
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves
- 1 to 2 red chilies
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (optional)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Some black pepper
How?
Chinese pickled long beans is a light pickled ingredient, usually soaked in salt water, sometimes also flavored with Sichuan peppercorn and other spices up to days to get the finished ingredient. I prefer to rinse out any excess salt with running water first, then dry well with kitchen towel. After that, I'd like to season with soy sauce for extra depth of flavor.
Once dried, chop into smaller pieces.
Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Destem the red chilies and finely chop the remaining section.
Take a wok or non-stick pan, drizzle some oil and turn to medium high heat. Add in garlic and chilies. Give it a quick stir and cook till the aroma comes out, but careful not to burn the garlic.
Add in ground pork along with 1 tablespoon of Chinese rice cooking wine. Stir-fry till the pork breaks apart instead of sticking together in chunks.
Add in chopped pickled long beans along with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to balance off some of its acidity.
Taste and see if need to adjust with extra seasonings. As for my own preference, I'd like to add some soy sauce and continue to cook till nearly dried up. You can tell when the color darkened and the flavors seemed fully absorbed by the pork. However, if this stir-fry, or the pickled long beans were already too salty for your taste, omit the soy sauce.
Plate and garnish with some freshly ground black pepper.
You know, back in the states, even my rental apartment had good lighting in the kitchen. It's one of the cultural differences between the old Taiwanese home layout and the western style. Older Taiwanese generations tend to locate the kitchen in the back. I think partially is because they're trying avoid the oil, the smell, or perhaps the smoke linger to other spaces while cooking.
However, you can see more open-concept kitchen now among the younger generation. Still not a common thing, but it's happening for sure. As for me, I don't mind the cooking smell at all. I always enjoy the yummy aroma that lingers in the house. As along as the air flow is well-controlled, the smell won't stick to clothes, furniture, etc. In the case of baking cookies, I even prefer that wonderful chocolaty or vanilla sugary aroma stay on the whole day.
Other Asian stir-fry recipes:
- Taiwanese style tuna belly quick stir-fry with Chinese basil
- Dried anchovies and dried radish stir-fry 炒小魚蘿蔔乾
- Peas and shrimps quick stir-fry
- Water lily stir-fry with cordia dichotoma 破布子炒水蓮
- Kung pao cabbage
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