Yuxiang means fish fragrant, and there is no fish in it. The name comes from the pickled chilli, garlic and sweet vinegar base used for fish in Sichuan cooking, rebuilt here as a bowl of sauce mixed before the wok is even lit. Get that bowl right and the stir fry takes under four minutes.
Sichuan · Main
Yuxiang Shredded Pork With Wood Ear and Green Pepper
Pork slivers marinate in egg white and starch for ten minutes, then hit a hot wok with chilli bean paste and a sweet sour sauce built from two spoons each of soy and vinegar.
- Prep25 min
- Cook8 min
- Serves3
- LevelMedium
Ingredients
| 300 g | pork loin , cut into thin slivers across the grain |
| 1/2 | carrot , julienned |
| 4 | green peppers , deseeded and sliced |
| 30 g | wood ear , soaked, drained, cut into strips |
| 1 | egg white |
| 1 tbsp | light soy sauce , for the marinade |
| 1 tbsp | Shaoxing wine , for the marinade |
| 1 tbsp | cornstarch , for the marinade |
| 1 tbsp | cooking oil , for the marinade |
| 2 tbsp | light soy sauce , for the sauce |
| 2 tbsp | black vinegar , for the sauce |
| 1/2 tbsp | dark soy sauce , for the sauce |
| 1 tbsp | oyster sauce , for the sauce |
| 1 tbsp | caster sugar , for the sauce |
| 1 tbsp | cornstarch , for the sauce |
| 120 ml | water , for the sauce |
| 1 tbsp | chilli bean paste |
| 3 cloves | garlic , minced |
| 2 | spring onions , white parts, minced |
| 3 tbsp | cooking oil , for the wok |
Method
- Mix the pork with the egg white, 1 tbsp soy, the wine, 1 tbsp cornstarch and a pinch of white pepper. Work it with your fingers until the starch disappears, then stir in 1 tbsp oil and leave for 10 minutes.
- Stir the sauce ingredients together in a bowl: 2 tbsp soy, the vinegar, dark soy, oyster sauce, sugar, 1 tbsp cornstarch and the water.
- Heat the wok until a drop of water skates across the surface, add the oil, then the pork. Spread it out and leave it for 20 seconds before stirring, so the coating sets instead of sliding off.
- As soon as the pork has lost its pink colour, tip it into a bowl.
- Add the garlic and spring onion whites to the same wok and fry for 20 seconds, then the chilli bean paste. Fry until the oil turns red.
- Add the carrot, green pepper and wood ear and stir over high heat for about 90 seconds, until the pepper is bright but still crisp.
- Return the pork, pour in the sauce and toss hard for 30 seconds. It will thicken and glaze almost at once.
- Take the wok off the heat the moment the sauce clings and serve with rice.
Notes
- Cut the pork across the grain. Sliced with it, the slivers curl and turn chewy in the wok.
- Have the sauce bowl and the vegetables ready before the wok gets hot. From the first slice of pork to serving is under four minutes.
Ratios and technique checked against 乐思小厨 on Douguo (鱼香肉丝). The method here is written by Stellaok; the photograph is the source kitchen's, credited on the image above and linked back to the page it came from. No recipe text is reproduced.