Ching’s Chinese Food in Minutes. Ching-He Huang

Just before cooking, coat the meat in the potato flour or cornflour.

      3 Heat a wok or pan over a high heat, then add the groundnut oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the pork and cook for 1 minute. Add the rice wine or sherry and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the garlic, chilli and Chinese leaf and stir well.

      4 Season with the soy sauce and sesame oil and serve immediately with egg-fried rice.

      Ching’s Tips

       While the pork is marinating, you can be getting on with the rest of the meal.

       This is also a good dish to share, with other dishes, at a dinner party.

      READY TO EAT IN 10MINUTES

      Prep time: 5 minutes, cook in: 5 minutes (plus 20 minutes marinating)

      Sichuan stir-fried pork with cucumbers

      This easy stir—fry reminds me of my grandmother’s cooking—simple but full of flavour. It makes a fast and delicious supper.

      SERVES 2

      1 tablespoon chilli bean sauce (or to taste)

      300g/11oz pork fillet, sliced widthways and then cut into lengthways strips

      2 tablespoons potato flour or cornflour

      3-4 tablespoons groundnut oil

      1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns

      ¹/₂ tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry

      1 tablespoon light soy sauce

      1 tablespoon Chinkiang black rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar

      1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

      1 cucumber, peeled and sliced lengthways into thin strips (using a potato peeler)

      steamed jasmine rice to serve (see page 154)

      1 Put the chilli bean sauce into a bowl, add the pork and turn to coat, then cover the bowl and leave to marinate for 20 minutes, or overnight if possible, in the fridge.

      2 Just before cooking, coat the meat in potato flour or cornflour.

      3 Heat a wok or pan over a high heat, then add the groundnut oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the Sichuan peppercorns, stirring quickly to avoid burning them. After a few seconds, add the pork strips and stir together. As the pork starts to cook, add the rice wine or sherry and stir-fry for 1 minute.

      4 Season the pork with soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil. Add the cucumber slices and stir well. Serve immediately with jasmine rice.

      READY TO EAT IN 15 MINUTES

      Prep time: 5 minutes, cook in: 10 minutes (plus 20 minutes marinating)

      Fried pork cutlet, or Zha Pai Gu, is crispy and full of flavour. Serve with a refreshing pickled cucumber salad and rice.

      Fried pork cutlet

      SERVES 2

      2 x 175g/6oz boneless pork loin chops

      groundnut oil for deep-frying

      3 tablespoons potato flour or cornflour

      1 egg, beaten

      8 tablespoons Panko breadcrumbs or stale white breadcrumbs

      pickled cucumber salad, stir-fried vegetables and plain rice to serve

      FOR THE MARINADE

      3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

      1 tablespoon light soy sauce

      1 tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry

      1 tablespoon yellow bean sauce

      2.5cm/1 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced

      1 pinch of sugar

      1 Flatten the pork loins with a meat cleaver, meat hammer or rolling pin until they are 1cm/¹/₂ inch thick. Put all the ingredients for the marinade into a bowl and stir to combine. Add the pork and turn to coat, then cover the bowl and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.

      2 Heat a wok over a high heat, then fill the wok to one-third of its depth with groundnut oil. Heat the oil to 180°C/350°F or until a cube of bread dropped in turns golden brown in 15 seconds and floats to the surface.

      3 Remove each piece of pork from the marinade, dip in the potato flour or cornflour, then in the beaten egg and cover in the breadcrumbs. Using a pair of tongs or long bamboo chopsticks, carefully lower each piece into the oil and fry for 5-6 minutes until golden brown. Serve immediately with pickled cucumber salad, stir-fried vegetables and rice.

      Ching’s Tip

       Many cities of Taiwan have small outlets serving ‘Piantung’, meaning ‘convenient lunchboxes’—polystyrene boxes packed with rice, soy-braised seaweed, soy egg, pickled vegetables and stir-fried spinach with a choice of fried fish (swordfish or tuna, and so on). My favourite is the works with a large portion of fried pork cutlet.