If you have a famous Sichuan-style Malay chicken, this is another recipe you must try. Well-seared pork belly with a crispy shell, paired so well with dried chilis and aromatics.
Compared with common protein stir-fry dishes, this is easier because you can’t over-fry the protein and make it spoil or become hard to chew. So you get the confidence.
Years ago, I shared a mala chicken recipe, and I got lots of lovely, cute comments. Â Someone asked whether you should eat the chili peppers too. We joke that it is a dish where you have to find the chicken among the peppers. This time, we will find diced pork belly among the peppers.
Sichuan cuisine is famous for a mala flavor with lots of chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. Usually, those dishes are loaded with strong aromatics, including ginger, garlic, and scallions.
If you love kung pao chicken, you will find real Sichuan dishes usually call for larger scallions, like yellow scallions or white scallions. Â In most cases, they are used as a side ingredient rather than as aromatics. We use this approach in this chili and pork belly stir-fry.
Ingredients
- 300g well-marbled pork belly, remove the skin
- 3 yellow scallions, or you can use your regular type- double the amount, only the white part.
- 1/2 cup dried chili peppers
- 5-6 fresh green chilis, cut into circles
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch, optional
- 1 tbsp. Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp. Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. Sugar
Step by step
Remove the skin and cut the pork belly into small dice. Cut into around 1.5 cm squares. Then marinate with salt, light soy sauce, and a very small amount of cornstarch.
About the cornstarch: I have tried the version without cornstarch, and it tastes great too, with a sharper-edged texture. Adding cornstarch, by contrast, gives the dish a lovely sticky texture. Â
Prepare the ingredients
- Cut the scallions and chili peppers into small pieces. Prepare the ginger and garlic slices.
- If you are using whole dried chili peppers, remove the seeds. Â
Sear the pork belly
- Add oil to coat the wok and add the diced pork belly. Â
- Fry for about 5-7 minutes, until the cubes are well seared. Â You’ll now have a well-seared pork belly and a bowl of rendered fat and oil mixture. Keep the oil for soups or other stir-frying dishes.
You may need to wash the wok if too much crust sticks; scrub it clean.
Fry it up
Keep around 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok. Â Fry the garlic, ginger, chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns until aromatic over a slow fire. Â
Return the seared pork belly cubes. Add scallion sections in. Season with salt, sugar, and light soy sauce. Quickly mix well and serve hot.
Cook tips
- Choose high-quality, well-marbled pork belly that melts in your mouth. So you don’t need to marinate it.
- Don’t be scared by the amount of chilies. They are also the source of flavor. If you can’t eat too hot dishes. choose a lower-heat variety.
- Use high fire after adding the scallions. Mix quickly at the end to keep the scallions crunchy.
Match tips
- In Chinese food theory, this is a heat-up dish. So we will recommend matching it with some cooler dishes, including salads- smashed cucumbers or matching it with a cooling soup.
- If you have noodles, matching it with noodles is a brilliant idea. I tried this match in one of our local noodle restaurants. It is so great!!! And such an improvement for noodles.
Ingredients
- 300 g well-marbled pork belly remove the skin
- 3 yellow scallions or you can use your regular type- double the amount, only the white part.
- 1/2 cup dried chili peppers
- 5-6 fresh green chilis cut into circles
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch optional
- 1 tbsp. Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp. Light soy sauce divided
- 1/2 tsp. Salt divided
- 1 tsp. Sugar
Instructions
- Remove the skin and cut the pork belly into small dice. Cut into around 1.5 cm squares. Then marinate with salt, light soy sauce, and a very small amount of cornstarch.
- Cut the scallions and chili peppers into small pieces.
- If you are using whole dried chili peppers, remove the seeds.
- Add oil to coat the wok and add the diced pork belly. Fry for about 5-7 minutes, until the cubes are well seared. You’ll now have a well-seared pork belly and rendered fat oil mixture. Keep the oil for soups or other stir-frying dishes.
- You may need to wash the wok if too much crust sticks; scrub it clean.
- Keep around 1 tablespoon of oil in wok. Fry the garlic, ginger, chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns over a slow fire until aromatic.
- Return the seared pork belly cubes. Add scallion sections. Season with salt, sugar, and light soy sauce. Quickly mix well and serve hot.
