This is for all really Sichuan Food Lover, the best Yu Xiang dishes.
Even Sichuan food is well known for the famous hot pot, even tea smoked duck, blanched cabbage etc, but I still insist that the best part of this cuisine also lay in home style dishes like Yu Xiang dishes (Yu Xiang Eggplants) and Mapo dishes (mapo tofu). With very humble ingredients, we can still presents wonderful flavors with different combinations and ratios.
Yu Xiang sauce is great for lots of ingredients but the most popular match is eggplants and shredded pork. It is quite interesting that Yu Xiang dish is quite different even in Sichuan area. The upper river area including Chengdu love to add shredded lettuce stem, wood ear mushrooms and carrot. But the lower river area including Chongqing love to use only scallion or yellow scallion and skip all the other side ingredients. I introduce my hometown style and use only scallions this time with a friendly to beginner method.
ABC about Yu Xiang Sauce
Yu Xiang sauce “鱼香” actually means Fish-Fragrant, is a kind of flavor which is quite famous in Sichuan dishes. It has a lovely hot and sour yet sweet flavor. Pickled chili pepper (泡椒) is the most important ingredient for this dish. I believe pickled pepper is also the reason of nameless outside China. Because pickled pepper is hard to find. You can buy pickled peppers in Asian stores, or make it at home using large jars or glass bottles. The fish is actually in the pickling jar of pickled peppers in one of the traditional Sichuan pickling.
Some of the traditional cook use only pickled peppers in Yu Xiang sauce. But I find adding some doubanjiang can improve the color of the dish to the next level.
How to prepare the pork
In order to make soft and tender pork shreds, marinating the pork with the following steps.
- add light soy sauce, salt, sugar and white pepper. Mix well and set aside for 15 minutes. With this process, the pork shreds can obtain a basic flavor. At the same time, soak slices of ginger and scallion in a bowl with 2-3 tablespoons of warm water. Then pour around 2 tablespoons of ginger and scallion water to the pork shreds. Continue mixing and then you will find the water is absorbed.
- Mix 1 tablespoon of starch with 1 tablespoon of water. Add to the pork shreds.
Before stir frying, mix around 3 tablespoons of oil with the shreds to avoid them sticky together with the help of starch. Meanwhile this step make sure the pork shreds are fried with cold oil in hot wok (热锅冷油)
Cook’s Note
1.I modified the steps so it can be workable in our own kitchen where the fire is not strong enough. The key step is to transfer the pork shreds out as long as it turns color in the first frying. The shreds might not be well cooked but it is ok because we will continue to heat it with the sauces.
2. Following the steps to prepare the pork shreds contribute a lot to tender pork shreds.
3. The sauce needs a large amount of aromatics including garlic, ginger and scallion. So don’t reduce the amount listed in the ingredient list.
Steps
Heat the wok firstly and then pour a small amount of oil to coat the wok. Place pork shreds in. Let it stay for 2-3 seconds and then mix from time to time. Once the pork shreds changes color. Transfer out. You may find this step is unnecessary for restaurants because they get super high fire and the dish can be finished within seconds. I recommend this step for home cooking with smaller fire. But we can get very close result.
Leave the oil in and then place doubanjiang and pickled peppers in. Fry over small fire for 10 seconds until the oil turns red completely. Add garlic and ginger. Fry until aromatic.
Return pork shreds and re-stir the Yu Xiang Sauce. Pour the sauce to the wok and heat for a while until the content boils. Then place the scallions in. Mix well.
Here is our super good looking, tender and great in flavor Yu Xiang Pork shreds.
Yu Xiang Pork
Ingredients
- 300 g pork tenderloin or small tenderloin , shredded
Marinating
- 1/4 tsp. sugar
- 1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tsp. dark soy sauce , optional for coloring
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. scallion and ginger water
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch , mixed with 1 tablespoon of water
- 1 tbsp. cooking oil
Stir Frying
- 1/2 tbsp. doubanjiang
- 1 tbsp. chopped pickled peppers
- 5 cloves garlic , chopped
- 1 inch ginger , chopped
- 3 tbsp. vegetable cooking oil
- 1 large Chinese scallion , green part removed and cut into 1cm sections
Yu Xiang Sauce
- 2 tsp. light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. black vinegar
- 5 tbsps. water
- 1 tbsp. starch
- 2 tbsps. sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Instructions
Prepare and Marinat the pork
- Add soy sauce, salt, sugar and white pepper. Mix well and set aside for 15 minutes. With this process, the pork shreds can obtain a basic flavor. At the same time, soak slices of ginger and scallion in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of warm water. Then pour around 2 tablespoons of ginger and scallion water to the pork shreds. Continue mixing and then you will find the water is absorbed.
- Mix 1 tablespoon of starch with 1 tablespoon of water. Add to the pork shreds.
Prepare the sauce
- Mix all the ingredients for the yu xiang sauce together in a small bowl. You need to stir it once again before using.
Stir-frying
- Before stir frying, mix around 3 tablespoons of oil with the shreds to avoid them sticky together with the help of starch. Meanwhile this step make sure the pork shreds are fried with cold oil in hot wok (热锅冷油)
- Heat the wok firstly and then pour a small amount of oil to coat the wok. Place pork shreds in. Let it stay for 2-3 seconds and then mix from time to time. Once the pork shreds changes color. Transfer out.
- Leave the oil in and then place doubanjiang and pickled peppers in. Fry over small fire for 10 seconds until the oil turns red completely. Add garlic and ginger. Fry until aromatic.
- Return pork shreds and re-stir the Yu Xiang Sauce. Pour the sauce to the wok and heat for a while until the content boils. Then place the scallions in. Mix well, transfer out and serve hot!
Nutrition
Hello, what would you traditionally serve this dish with?
This was quite good, with an interesting and balanced flavor.
The instructions might need to be touched up a bit. Step 1 doesn’t mention the ingredients are added to the pork, but it is obvious. Also in Step 1, the ginger slices are not specified in size, number, or weight. Had to guess on this but it worked out okay.
Good recipe, especially considering there is no Shaoxing wine or sesame oil. More people need to cook this then rate it and comment.
Thank you for your lovely feedback, Paul!
Your dish is so red and attractive! I couldn’t make mine as bright and it wasn’t red at all. Is it because of the doubanjiang? I used this Pixian doubanjiang from 99 ranch and it looks very dark and thicker than yours in the photo https://www.amazon.com/Pixian-Sichuan-Xian-Broad-Paste/dp/B00FBSMS38.
Jake,
The version your bought it fermented for a longer time and thus having a darker color. It is very important to stir fry the doubanjiang with a very slow fire until the oil in your wok turns red. If you want the color to be lighter and red, you can use chili oil + fermented chili and skip doubanjiang.
I don’t see any sugar listed in the marinade ingredients, but in the marinade instructions you say to add sugar. Please advise
whether or not you meant to have sugar in the marinade.
Hi, Wei
I’m so sorry that I miss the sugar in marinating ingredients. This Yu Xiang Pork tastes a little sweet. Thank you for pointing out my mistake.
I will try this in my house and if it is very good I will introduce to my boss.. Because currently we are still developing some Chinese menu in our restaurant. Thank you for sharing your recipes
Abe,
Thanks so much! This is such a encouraging comment.
I’m confused about how much oil to add the pork shreds and how much oil to add to the hot wok, because the amounts are not consistent between the ingredient list and the instructions. Could you please clarify? Thank you!
Hi, LeeAnn
1 tbsp. oil for marinating the pork, and 3 tbsp. oil for stir frying to be added to the wok.
You left the scallions out of the list of ingredients. How much chopped scallions do you add to the stir fry?
You also did not describe exactly what you mean by “pickled pepper,” but I see in the comments section that you answered this question: Sichuan pickled peppers.
I liked the dish, but the recipe can use some clerical edits to improve the results.
Thank you Fred. Already updated!
You left the scallions out of the list of ingredients. How much chopped scallions do you add to the stir fry?
You also did not describe exactly what you mean by “pickled pepper,” but I see in the comments section that you answered this question: Sichuan pickled peppers.
I forgot to mention that you also left out the sugar and its amount from the ingredient list for the marinade and you included 1/4 teaspoon salt twice in the ingredient list for the marinade.
I liked the dish, but the recipe can use some clerical edits to improve the results.