Pork stir fry with fresh green peppers (青椒炒肉)is the national dish enjoy the highest popularity on Chinese table, similar to tomato and egg stir fry.
Stir frying is hard to control for lots of people outside China. Due to the high fire, the meat can be overcooked very quickly and thus turns quite hard to chewy. But a perfectly done stir fry is a brilliant dish even it calls very humble and common ingredients. After this post, you can freestyle your pork stir fry with other ingredients, like carrots, celery or red onion. But this is the most classic one.
In Chinese stir-frying, we marinating the meat with a couple of ingredients with several purposes. The first one is to give the meat a basic flavor, using soy sauce, salt, white pepper and etc. And the second one is to make the meat juicy itself by adding some liquid. The last purpose is to add a protecting shell with the help of starch to keep the meat from overcooking by the high heat of the wok and keep the juice inside.
When meeting hot oil, the starch begins the process of gelation. But when the oil is too hot or the oil is insufficient, the shreds might sticky to the bottom of your wok (since wok is not non-stick cook). So we need to add the pork shreds when the temperature of the oil is not too high.
So the basic step for a perfectly done shredded pork stir fry is to heat your wok or pan firstly (so we can remain a relative stable temperature after adding the cold pork). Mix some cold oil with marinated pork (avoid sticking) and add the pork when the oil is warm. Quickly fry the shredded pork for 6- 10 seconds until the white color turns pale and non-stick.
Ingredients
- 200g pork butt, cut into similar slices
- 3-4 fresh peppers, remove the seeds and finely shredded
- 1/4 fresh red bell pepper, optional, just for better coloring
- 1/4 cup of vegetable cooking oil (we will not intake all of them)
- 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
Marinating ingredients
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp. white pepper
- 4 tbsp. water or chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tbsp. cooking wine (Shaoxing wine)
- 3 tsp. cornstarch
- 2 tsp. vegetable cooking oil
Instructions
Cut pork into small thin slices. Transfer the pork shreds to a larger bowl, add sugar, salt, white pepper, light soy sauce, water and cooking wine. Combine well and make sure the pork absorbing all the liquid and marinating for at least 15 minutes. Add cornstarch and mix well.
Mix in 2 teaspoons of vegetable cooking oil before frying.
Heat the wok firstly until really hot and then add oil and continue heating for 30 seconds. Add the pork shreds in and fry quickly for no more than 10 seconds or until the sheds changes turns pale. It is completely ok if it contains some pink inside. If you are working with an insufficient heat, you can cook the pork in two batches.
The remaining heat will continue cook it after transferring out. Transfer out the pork immediately and remove extra oil. Leave only 1 tablespoon of oil inside and fry garlic until aromatic. Place green pepper in, fry for 10 to 20 seconds until slightly softened. Sprinkle a small amount of salt and drizzle light soy sauce around the edges. Mix with pork and serve hot.
Other quick stir fry recipes
Classic pork stir fried with green peppers
- 200 g pork butt or tenderloin ,thinly sliced
- 3-4 fresh peppers ,remove the seeds and finely shredded
- 1/4 fresh red bell pepper ,optional, just for better coloring
- 1/4 cup of vegetable cooking oil ,we will not intake all of them
- 2 garlic cloves ,finely minced
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce ,you can mix with 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce for a darker version
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. white pepper
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tbsp. cooking wine ,Shaoxing wine
- 4 tbsp. water or chicken stock.
- 3 tsp. cornstarch
- 2 tsp. vegetable cooking oil
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Cut pork into small thin slices.
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Transfer the pork to a larger bowl, add sugar, salt, white pepper, light soy sauce, cooking wine and water. Combine well and make sure the pork absorbing all the liquid and marinating for at least 15 minutes.
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Then add cornstarch and mix well. Then mix in 2 teaspoons of vegetable cooking oil.
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Heat the wok firstly until really hot and then add oil and continue heating for 30 seconds. Add the pork shreds in and fry quickly for no more than 10 seconds or until the sheds changes turns pale. It is completely ok if it contains some pink inside. The remaining heat will continue cook it after transferring out. If you are working with an insufficient heat, you can cook the pork in two batches.
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Transfer out the pork immediately and remove extra oil. Leave only 1 tablespoon of oil inside and fry garlic until aromatic. Place shredded pepper slices in, fry for 10 to 20 seconds until slightly softened. Sprinkle a small amount of salt.
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Return pork and give a quick mix. Serve hot!
Exactly what kind of peppers do you use? Plain green bell peppers? In china the green peppers are much different.
It is a good question. I believe fresh long peppers or bell peppers all can work. People have different references about that. But the long chili green pepper is my first choice.
Hi Elaine,
I only had green and red bell peppers available but added a small amount of fresh chili pepper to compensate. It tasted fantastic.
Thank you for another simple and very tasty stir fry recipe. With summer approaching I would be thrilled to see more recipes using some of the leaner cuts of pork like this one.
Thanks Andreas.
Yes, in summer days, I love leaner meat more. Thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks for the catch Peter. I missed the “not”. I mean do not heat the oil until too hot.
Can’t go wrong with this recipe it’s fairly simple and looks delicious! Who doesn’t like Chinese food? Also great blog so much helpful information and yummy foods!
Thanks Alexus.
Hello!
I first want to say that I love your recipes. A lot of my friends since growing up are Chinese American so I started eating Chinese food at their houses. Your recipes let me recreate those dishes when I miss my friends. I just wanted to ask what platform you began with for your blog? The layout is really beautiful. I’ve been trying to start my own blog but haven’t been crazy about the platform I’m using. (Also I’m 90% sure the peppers in this recipe are called Shishito peppers in US stores)
Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!
Brianna
Brianna,
Firstly, thanks for the information abut Shishito peppers. I have checked it and found it is the right type.
I use wordpress and genesis theme called foodie pro. You can search and find the information quickly.
Hi! I made this recipe last night and it turned out so good! Tasted like something I ordered from the restaurant! Thanks so much for the recipe.
Thank you Annie for your great feedback.
This looks delicious! I am making this Stir-fry for dinner tonight. I do have a question … why do you call for 1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons) of cornstarch, then only use half of it? That is a bit confusing.
Lisa,
Thanks for the nice catch. I notice that the recipe section says only 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch. My fault. I highly recommend using more starch to tenderized the pork. So still 1 tablespoon is highly recommend. Already updated the recipe. Thanks again.
Thank you for answering my question Elaine! I made your recipe and it was absolutely delicious! My husband described it as the flavors being “clean” so you can really taste the pork and the peppers without the flavors being covered up with a lot of sauce. I used pork tenderloin, which of course we all know is super tender, but your marinading technique I think really protected it from over cooking in the wok. I may try that marinade on chicken, etc. Thank you for the terrific recipe!
Lisa,
You get the point. It is really important to make the dish “clean” so the flavors can attach to the ingredients. We pursue that in real Chinese cuisine.
Elaine, thank you for the comments regarding cooking technique and not heating oil to a top high temp when cooling things covered in corn starch. One thing that English recipes of Chinese food tend to miss (not highlight) are the cooking techniques used by Chinese chefs. Very helpful. Thanks.
Devils are in the details and also the delicious taste. I really found that even with the same ingredients, same process, different people cook the dish with different flavors. It is all about the processing of the ingredients and the heat used during the process. You comforted me with the attention! Thank you and happy cooking!