Twice-cooked pork with Sichuan soy bean pastes and leek (Hui Guo Rou 回锅肉)

‘Hui Guo Rou’ means ‘meat returning to the work’. This twice-cooked pork is aromatic, juicy and very satisfying with a bowl of rice or a few freshly steamed ‘Man Tou’ (plain steamed buns). I have posted the ‘Man Tou’ recipe here.

1. Blanch the pork

Ingredients

• 500g pork belly or pork shoulder with some fat on (a single piece, not sliced)
• 2 clove of garlic, minced
• a few slices of ginger, julienned
• 3 star anise
• 12 cloves
• 1 small piece of cinnamon stick
• 10 Sichuan peppercorns, crushed
• a little salt

Method

• In a pot large enough to cover the whole piece of pork, add pork and all the other ingredients, top with water, bring to boil; turn the heat off, put on a lid, and leave it on the stove until cool (the remaining heat from the hot broth will continue to cook the pork).

2. Stir fry the pork

• approx. 100g leek (approximately), sliced
• 1/2 capsicum, cleaned, sliced
• 1 tsp chili soybean paste (or to taste)
• 2 tsp sweet soybean paste (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• cooking oil

Method

• Slice the pork into very thin slices; the pork should ideally be pink (just cooked); if it is undercooked, don’t worry, we are going to stir fry the pork.
• In a frying pan, bring some cooking oil to high heat, add chili soybean paste, sauté until aromatic; add sweat soybean paste and cooking wine, stir to combine; add pork slices, toss to combine and make sure all the pork slices are coated with sauce; add capsicum, leek and sesame oil, toss & ready to serve.