Cantonese Asparagus and Pork Stir-fry
廣式炒蘆筍
Asparagus is seasonal in Spring, particular sweet, crispy and tender. They are easy to prepare, just to trim off the tough bottom, and pan-fry in olive oil or butter for 1 to 2 minutes, season with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper. Such simple deliciousness.
Asparagus and Shrimp Stir-fry is one of my favourite dishes in the season. Fresh river shrimp and sweet asparagus are good combination. In this recipe, I would do this quick stir-fry in a sort of Cantonese way. Fat meat can boost the flavour of fibrous vegetable and give it a meaty charcoaled flavour, pork is commonly used. A small pinch of dried mini shrimps builds up the umami. The chemistry of meat, dried seafood, herbs and spices is like a generous tablespoon of X.O sauce. Replace asparagus with some other usual Chinese vegetable, such as choy-sum, gai-lan, pak-choy, snake bean or fu-qua; this is an almighty recipe for many vegetable stir-fry.
Check similar stir-fry recipes –
- Stir-fried Ricecake (Nian-gao) with XO Sauce
- Spicy Chinese Eggplant and Minced Pork Stir-fry, Cantonese style
- Stir-fried Chinese Broccoli with Mini Dried Fish
Ingredients –
- Asparagus, 400g
- Pork, 100-200g, better with fat, such as pork belly, or use ground pork
- Dried mini shrimp, 1tbsp
- Thai chili, 2
- Garlic, 4 cloves
- Light soy sauce, 2tbsp
- Sugar, 1/2tsp
- Cantonese rice wine / Chinese cooking wine, 1tbsp
How to do –
-
Prepare the ingredients –
- Pork sliced, shredded or diced, or even use ground pork, no need to marinate, but make sure choose pork with fat, such as pork belly;
- Dried shrimp washed in running water;
- Chili and garlic roughly chopped;
- Chinese don’t waste much food so while preparing asparagus, instead of trimming about 2 inches off from the bottom, I would shave off the thick outer skin, about 2 inches from the bottom and cut off only 1/2cm; then roll cut the stem to about 2 inches long matchsticks.
2. Stir-fry –
- Heat 2tbsp of oil in hot wok, pan-fry pork till golden and crispy on the edges;
- Turn down to medium heat, put in garlic, chili and dried shrimps, stir-fry till fragrant;
- Put in 1tbsp of cooking wine, 2tbsp of soy sauce and 1/2tsp of sugar, stir well;
- Put in asparagus, in high heat, flip the wok, stir-fry for about 2 minutes;
- Served hot with hot steamed rice.
用料
- 芦笋 400克
- 猪肉 200克
- 虾米 1茶匙
- 蒜 4粒
- 辣椒 2粒
- 生抽 2汤匙
- 糖 半茶匙
- 广东米酒 1汤匙
做法
- 猪肉选带肥的，例如五花肉，多少无妨，切成片、条或丁都可，不需要腌肉；虾米冲洗一下；蒜和辣椒切粒；
- 离根部大约2寸的位置开始削去芦笋皮，只切去根部半厘米，再斜刀切段；
- 热锅放1汤匙油，油热放猪肉，煸至金黄，出油；转中火，放虾米、蒜、辣椒，炒香；放1汤匙料酒、2汤匙生抽、半茶匙糖，炒匀；放芦笋，颠锅，大火炒一分钟即可。
