Рецепт Sichuan Pork in Garlic Sauce with Mushrooms, Water Chestnuts and Snap Peas
There’s
a Sichuan restaurant close to home in New York that I go to more frequently
than I’d like to admit. There’s a big
“B” in the window which means The New York City Board of Health has some "issues" with the place. In my view, if they
haven’t closed it down, and I haven’t experienced any problems after
eating there, I’m good to go. I would
have to say this mainly has to do with the fact that the lunch special comes in
at $6.75 and includes a choice of soups or egg or spring rolls, three kinds of
rice and finally, about 20 main dishes all fairly standard Sichuan fare. Every one I have tried has never disappointed. The place also has a Japanese menu and a
prominent sushi bar. I choose to believe
that the “B” was assigned to that end of the restaurant. I am happy to spend
so little for such traditional Sichuan dishes as Pork in Garlic Sauce. In fact
I like it so much, that this weekend I made it at home. Once you get the hang of stir-frying, there’s
no limit to your kitchen creativity. And if there was one technique that I
could pass on to harried, time-pressured home cooks, it would be the
stir-fry. And you don’t need a wok, just
a big non-stick frying pan.
It
also helps if you keep an Asian pantry, which is far less daunting than those
words sound. Here’s a list of what to
have on hand to be able to whip together Asian stir-fries whenever the mood
strikes you:
The Basics of an Asian Pantry
This Asian Pantry includes a couple of things
not on this list--
bean paste and dried mushrooms among them.
1 large bottle of Soy Sauce.
(These come in low sodium versions
- if you’re concerned about salt.)
- 1 bottle of Chinese Rice Wine
- (Sherry can be substituted for
- this, if you can’t find the real thing.)
- (A pungent, anchovy based ‘vinegar’
- 1 bottle of Chinese Black Vinegar
- (Again, you can substitute substitute
- 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and 2 teaspoons of rice vinegar)
- 1 bottle of Sesame Oil
- 1 jar of
- Asian Chili Garlic Sauce
- (I use a
- brand called Tuong Ot Toi Viet-Nam which is fairly ubiquitous in New York)
- A simple
- Google search will likely help you out wherever you live in the world.
- Now that you’ve got your Asian pantry
- together, you can let loose and create custom stir fries which is exactly what
- I did here. Since I was keen on making this one
- dish dinner, I added snap peas to the mushrooms and canned water chestnuts.
- Besides adding color this rounded out the dish and added crunch. The real labor in a stir-fry is getting all
- the ingredients prepped and ready to go into the pan. Everything should be assembled beforehand so
- the steps are easy to follow. This whole
- dish came together-- despite its dauntingly long list of ingredients--prep and
- all in 45 minutes. But that includes 15
- minutes of soaking the pork in baking soda—a technique that acts as a
- tenderizer. (Once the tenderizing has
- taken place, the pork gets washed in water to remove any trace of the taste of
- the baking soda.) As to the pork, you
- want a cut with some fat on it. Because hogs are being bred to be lean, you may
- want to choose a fatty cut, like country style boneless ribs. I went with organic pork tenderloin cut into
- ¼ inch thick medallions, with a fine marbling of fat, which are then slivered
- into ¼ inch pieces. Serve this over
- Jasmine Rice to be sure you get every delicious drop of garlic sauce. (You can make the rice while the pork is in
- its baking soda bath.) Here’s the recipe:
- Recipe for Sichuan Stir-Fried
- Pork in Garlic Sauce with Mushrooms, Water Chestnuts and Snap Peas
- Takes
- 45 minutes start to finish. Serves 4.
- 4
- teaspoons chinese black vinegar
- 1
- tablespoon chinese rice wine or 1 tablespoon dry sherry
- 12
- ounces country-style boneless pork ribs, trimmed
- 2
- teaspoons chinese rice wine or 2 teaspoons dry sherry
- 2
- scallions, white part minced, green parts sliced thin
- 2
- tablespoons Asian Chili Garlic Sauce
- 4
- tablespoons vegetable oil
- 8
- ounces Baby Bella mushrooms, stemmed and sliced thing
- 1
- (5 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts
- Whisk
all sauce ingredients together in bowl. Set aside.
Cut
pork into 2” lengths and then cut each length into 1/4” matchsticks. Combine
pork with baking soda and water in bowl.
Let
sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Rinse
pork in cold water. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels. Whisk rice wine
and cornstarch in bowl. Add pork and toss to coat.
For
the stir fry, combine garlic, scallion whites, chili paste in bowl.
Heat
1 tbsp oil in large non stick pan over high heat until just smoking. Add mushrooms
and cook stirring frequently until tender, 4 minutes. Add snap peas and cook
until just tender, about 4 minutes. Add water chestnuts and cook for additional
2 to 4 minutes until tender. Transfer vegetables to separate bowl.
Add
remaining 3 tbsp oil to pan and place over medium low heat. Add garlic scallion
mixture and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Transfer 1 tbsp garlic scallion
oil to small bowl and set aside.
7.
Add pork to skillet and cook until no longer
pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk sauce to recombine and add to skillet. Increase
heat to high and cook stirring constantly until thickened and pork cooked thru,
1 to 2 minutes. Return vegetables to skillet and combine.
8.
Transfer to platter,
sprinkle with scallion greens and reserved garlic scallion oil and serve.