Sichuan Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce

Sichuan or Szechuan cuisine never cease to surprise and delight. Many of its dishes offer bold flavours, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic, chili peppers as well as the unique flavour of Sichuan Pepper. No wonder, Unesco declared Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province to be the city of gastronomy in 2011 to recognize the sophistication of its cooking. Here is an easy recipe which can be prepared whilst your rice is cooking. The recipe calls for any pork meat. On this instance, I used a pork fillet cut in small strips. No matter what cut of meat you use, the addition of corn starch and vinegar help tenderize the meat, resulting in a tender and soft meat with great flavours.

INGREDIENTS
Serve 4

For the meat
300 g pork fillet – (About 10oz)
2 teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine
2 teaspoon Light soy sauce
3 teaspoon water
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon Corn starch

For the Vegetables
1 Teaspoon Garlic finely minced
1 Teaspoon Ginger finely minced
60 g pre-soaked wood ear – (1/2 Cup)
60 g bamboo shoots – (1/2 Cup)
40 g carrot grated / small stick (1/2 Cup)
2 Spring onions finely minced

For the Sauce
1.5 Tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
1 Tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Black rice Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1.5 Tablespoon Corn Starch

PREPARATION
Marinate the meat

Slice pork fillet then cut into long thin strips (see note 3).
In a bowl, rub the pork (with your hand) with rice wine, soy sauce, salt and water until no more liquid can be seen.
Add corn starch then mix well. Set aside.

Prepare the Vegetables
Cut wood ear, bamboo shoots and carrot into thin strips.
Finely chop spring onion

For the Sauce

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and stir well.

Stir Fry
Heat up a wok (or a deep frying pan) over high heat. Pour in oil, then stir in marinated pork. Transfer to a plate when the meat becomes pale. Add the ginger and garlic in the remaining oil (add a bit more if necessary). Add wood ear, bamboo shoots and carrot.
Stir fry for half a minute or so then add the pork. Cook a further half a minute.
Pour in the sauce (stir well beforehand to avoid starch sitting at the bottom). When it becomes thick, turn off the heat then sprinkle spring onion over.