Work Text:
蒜泥白肉 (suan ni bai rou) Pork Belly Slices in Chili-Garlic Sauce
This is a simplified (and less fatty) take on a popular Sichuan appetizer. Served cold.
Prep/cook time is about 20 minutes. Serves 4.
🥘 Ingredients:
1 lb pork belly slices (can be purchased in Asian markets, prepared for hotpot or shabu shabu -- must be sliced thinly)... sorry, piggy!
🥘 For the sauce:
1/4 cup lite soy sauce
3 tbsp black sesame oil (regular sesame oil is fine too)
2 tbsp chili oil or to taste (hot sesame oil or your own homemade chili oil are fine substitutes)... can add more if you are Xiao Zhan
1 tbsp ponzu (mirin is okay too)
1 tbsp black vinegar (rice vinegar is fine as well) -- add more if you are Wang Yibo
1 tbsp minced garlic (or more… cannot go wrong with more)
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp red chili pepper flakes or to taste
1 tsp of Sichuan peppercorn powder or to taste (can omit if you do not like the mala, or “numbing” flavor)
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
chopped green onions (1 stalk)
🥘 Accompaniments:
5-6 baby bok choy, washed and with the ends cut off
🥘 Directions:
Set two pots of water to boil: one for the pork slices and one to blanch the bok choy. The bok choy only needs a short dip in boiling water, just enough to be cooked. Rinse in cold water to keep the leaves from cooking further, then drain well. When drained (you don’t want too much excess water to dilute the flavor of the sauce), lay the leaves out on a plate as a decorative bed for the pork slices and set aside.
In the second pot, boil the pork belly slices for 5-10 minutes, until cooked through. Drain and rinse the excess fat away.
While the pork belly slices are draining, prepare the sauce ingredients and combine.
Lay the pork belly slices on top of the baby bok choy in layers, spooning the sauce generously on each layer.
Great with plain rice or with noodles -- it’s particularly good with Shaanxi planed noodles, which can be tossed in the same spicy garlic sauce.