Sticky chinese pork and aubergine stir fry
We just recently came back from backpacking through southwestern china and the Tibet plateau, and felt it was time to post a recipe from the trip.
The Chinese are the unrivalled kings of stir fry, and this recipe has been adapted slightly to suit western kitchens and ingredients. This is a doddle to whip up, and such a treat.
This is one of the few recipes that I do recommend mise en place, you don’t want to be scrabbling to chop onions while your pork is burning – make sure you have everything chopped and ready before you start.
Stir fry pork with aubergines and mangetout
Servings 4
Ingredients
- Sesame oil
- 2cm Fresh ginger, mashed
- 3 Cloves garlic, mashed
- 1-3 Fresh chilli, chopped Depending on how hot you like it
- 1 Onion, halved and sliced into thick slices
- 1tbsp Sugar
- 2 Medium aubergines, quartered lengthwise and sliced
- 1 Tbsp Miso Or femented black bean paste if you can get it
- 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
- 3 Tbsp Naturally brewed soya sauce
- Pork, chopped into cubes or strips
- 1 Tbsp Peanut butter
- 200g Mangetout
- Fresh coriander, to garnish
- Black and white Sesame seeds, to garnish
- 2 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar
Spices (can substitute for 2tsp ground Sichuan pepper if available)
- 1 Tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 Tsp Ground chilli
Instructions
- Mix the soya sauce and cornstarch and marinade the pork.Sprinkle the aubergine with salt and microwave for about 5 minutes, to soften.
- Fry the ginger, garlic and chilli in Sesame oil in a wok or big frying pan for a minute, until fragrant. Use high heat for the whole recipe.Add the aubergine and fry until totally cooked, sticky, browning and starting to break apart. Add water to the frying pan if you need to stop the goodies burning on the bottom. Remove and set aside.
- Mix the miso in about a cupful of water to dissolve.Fry the onion, sugar and spices in more Sesame oil for a minute or so until just softening. Add the peanut butter and pork and stir furiously to stop the cornstarch sticking to the bottom. Add miso water constantly to stop your starch from sticking and burning. Add the mangetout after about a minute and continue stirring.Once the pork is cooked (about another minute) add the aubergines back in, any remaining miso water, stir well and add more water/stock if it's too sticky, or boil down for another minute or so if it's not sticky enough.
- Remove from heat, stir through the vinegar, sprinkle with Sesame seeds, top with coriander and serve with extra soya sauce and vinegar on the side for seasoning.
