How to recreate the Hunan stir-fried pork from Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine?

My observant eyes have noticed a pattern: Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine seems to be in almost every shopping mall in Singapore. How about the crowd situation then? Long queues EVERY.SINGLE.TIME! Hunan cuisine, in general, seems to be popular among Singaporeans these days. Is it the taste or are prices just reasonable there? You tell me.

One dish in particular is spotted at most tables — the Hunan Stir-Fry Pork, which also happens to be the native Chinese restaurant chain’s signature favourite.

Nicknamed the ‘rice killer’, this stir-fried pork dish with Chinese screw peppers is supposedly the perfect accompaniment to a piping-hot bowl of steamed rice — I’m a fan myself! Let me now teach you how to recreate this dish from the comfort of your home kitchen. No fancy equipment is needed, just a wok or large saute pan.

My goal is to keep it within or below S$19.90++ (S$23.68), which is the selling price at the restaurant. Will I succeed or fail badly? read on to find out.

Ingredients & costing

Well, it seems like I have failed and have exceeded by S$7.74. However, if you’re planning to prepare it again for the future, you’ll just need to purchase the Chinese screw peppers and pork belly slices, which will just cost you S$10.85. The rest of the ingredients can be kept for a long period, and only small amounts are needed for each batch. Oh, to save even more money, you can purchase fresh garlic in small amounts at the wet market.

Quantity needed

Steps

1) In a bowl or plate, throw in the shabu pork slices and add 1 tablespoon of Shao Xing Hua Tiao cooking wine, 1 tablespoon of corn starch, 1 teaspoon of dark soya sauce, and 1 teaspoon of cooking oil.

2) Gently mix everything together (the meat is rather fragile) and set it aside for at least 15 minutes.

Ding Xiang Mei Shi (鼎香美食): Handmade xiao long bao & dumplings by native Chinese couple at Geylang Bahru

3) Cut the Chinese screw peppers diagonally or in whatever style you prefer. For those who are curious about its taste, it’s like a mixture of green capsicum and green chilli. Remove the seeds if you can’t handle spice.

4) Soak the required amount of white fungus in water. After it rehydrates and fluffs up, tear them into bite-sized pieces.

5) Heat a wok over medium-high heat, then, without adding any oil, throw in the Chinese screw peppers till the surfaces start to char a little.

6) Once ready, set the grilled peppers aside.

7) Then use the same work with medium heat, and quickly saute the white fungus pieces with a little oil to cook them just a bit. Set aside when done.

8) Add a little oil (I added too much), stir fry the pork slices and separate them to prevent them from sticking to each other.

9) Once the pork is half-cooked, add in the minced garlic and black bean garlic sauce. Stir-fry and mix well.

10) Throw in the grilled peppers and white fungus and saute for a short while before serving.

Verdict

With the exception of it being a little oilier than I would have liked, the colour might also have been slightly darker (I was greedy and added a bit more dark soya sauce during cooking), the taste was actually similar to the one I’ve had from Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine.

The screw peppers maintain a little crunch while maintaining its natural sweetness. The white fungus gives the dish a little crunch and texture while the pork is fairly tender and savoury from the black bean garlic sauce — no salt is even needed. I’m surprised at how simple it is to make this. Would you give it a try?

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