eglamkowski's Journal: slashdot cookbook

For all the images we have of asians eating healthy, sometimes they can shock you. Remind to tell you sometime the story of this one restaurant's house speciality in Huzhou - it'll give you a heart attack just to hear it...

For today's recipe, I present to you: Deep-fried shredded pork.

10 oz. pork fillet
1/2 cup corn flour (corn starch)
2.5 cups peanut oil
1/4 small red bell pepper, shredded
1/4 small green bell pepper, shredded
2 scallion, white parts only, shredded
1 teaspoon chilli oil or chilli sauce

Seasoning:
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 teaspoons ginger juice
2 teaspoons rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons brown vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cut the pork fillet into paper-thin slices, then into shreds, finer than matchsticks. Mix the corn flour with enough cold water to make a thin paste. Add the pork and mix well, until each shred is thinly coated.

-Heat the peanut oil in a wok to smoking point and deep-fry the pork shreds until crisp, using wooden chopsticks to separate the shreds. the pork will turn a light golden brown and rustle slightly when drained. Remove and set aside.

-Drain the oil, leaving about tablespoon. Add the pre-mixed seasoning ingredients and bring to a boil. Return the fried pork and stiry fry in the sauce until evenly coated. Add the peppers and onions and toss. Sprinkle the chilli oil, toss well and transfer to a serving plate.

Notes:
. I don't think you can shred the pork finely enough for purposes of this dish. When I cooked this it wasn't thin enough really, so however thin you've cut it, cut it thinner yet again!
. I used chopped ginger rather than ginger juice.
. You really can't substitute white vinegar for brown vinegar (or vice versa). The flavor is totally different. Hopefully you have an asian market near by where you find some good brown vinegar. Of course, you probably won't find many other uses for it... :-/
. The peppers are more for color than anything. I didn't have both red and green (the red ones are SOOOOO much more expensive here). For chinese people, the look of the food is the #1 priority, because after all you SEE it before smelling or tasting it. When I was cooking some pork and bamboo this weekend, I went and added some peas to it and my wife immediately commented as she watched me add the peas that it really helped the appearance of the dish. No thought to the taste, nutrition or anything else, it just looked better. Looks are #1, then smell, and last of all is taste. Of course, we know smell and taste are intimately linked, but you do smell a food long before you taste it so they make the distinction. Plus, not all foods smell the way they taste. Certain cheeses are particularly notable in that regard.