Vivian's recipes

Twice Cooked Pork 回锅肉 (Hui Guo Rou in Pinyin)

This is a typical Sichuan dish. Sichuan is a province located in the southwest of China. People in Sichuan prefer spicy food due to wet climate and lack of sunshine.

Due to the raw material I can got in UK, my improved version of twice cooked pork is shown below which may be different from those tasted in China. However, my version has an important version- easy to cook and also taste delicious we think.

Ingredients:

Raw material: Bacon, onion, red or green chilies; garlic and ginger (if you like)

Dressing: Pixian (the county of Pi in Sichuan province) broad bean paste, soy sauce (light or dark), sugar, salt, and vegetable oil.

Pixian broad bean paste

Tips:

For more information about this special paste, please visit the website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubanjiang .

I choose bacon as the main material rather than pork, because the taste of bacon in UK is quite better than the pork in UK I think.

Steps:

I. Preparation of raw material

Slice the bacon and wash with cold water.

Cut the onion and chilies into chunks.

Cut the garlic into chunks and cut the ginger into slices if you like.

II. Cooked the bacon for the first time

(Sorry I just missed the step in my cooking. In China, the aim of the first cooking is to cook the pork thoroughly which is a time-consuming step.  Here I used bacon which is thin and easy to cook thoroughly. Thus it is okay without the first cooking I think. But I’d like to tell you this step of he original version).

Add enough water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.

Then cook the sliced pork in the boiling water.

III. Cooked the bacon for the second time

Heat a frying pan over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the chopped onion, garlic and ginger. Cook for 1 minute, and add chilies.

When the material in the pan is 70%-80% cooked, add the sliced bacon. Mix all the ingredients together.

When the bacon is cooked, add the broad bean paste (the paste is very salty) and soy sauce.

Then add sugar and salt (the amount depends on your taste).

Cook for another 1 to 2 minutes to make everything is heated through.

IV. Serve hot.

Fried celeries with beef mince 芹菜炒牛肉 （Qin Cai Chao Niu Rou in Pinyin） 

This dish is easier than Twice Cooked Pork.

Ingredients:

Raw materials: Celeries, beef mince

Dressing: Soy sauce, salt, vegetable oil

Steps:

I. Wash the celeries, cut them into chunks.

II. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil.  

When the oil is hot, add the celery chunks.

When the chunks are 70%-80% cooked, add beef mince. Mix all the ingredients together.

When the beef mince is 70%-80% cooked, add soy sauce and salt (the amount depends on your taste).

III. Serve hot.

Chicken Soup

This is the easiest one but needs longer time to prepare.

I. Add enough water in a large saucepan. Boil chicken wings or legs to remove blood in the material. 

II. Add enough water in rice cooker. Put the processed material above into the rice cooker and boil until thoroughly cooked (30-40 min).

III. Add the chicken soup into a large saucepan. When the soup is boiling, add chunked lettuce and the dressing (white or black pepper, salt, and coriander).

IV. Serve hot.

Enjoy your Chinese food.*^^*