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
Oh this is great! I did this in a cooking class in Chengdu. I actually just went to the market and have all of the ingredients for this now:) I’ve been wanting to learn more about Sichuan food while I’m living here and this site looks great! feichang xie!
Hi Christine,
If you lived in Chengdu for some time, then most of my recipes may be familiar to you. And you are quite welcome. That’s my primary purpose to share my favorite dishes with readers like you who love them too,.
Hi there, this looks great and I’d like to try it this week. What is the chinese name for the green pickled peppers? I am not Chinese but I live in China. Thanks! Keep up the good work 🙂
Hi Chttay,
The picked peppers are named as Paojiao 泡椒 in Chinese. You can try to search some. Usually they are from Sichuan province. Glad to know that you are in China now.
Hello! I just found your website and I am excited to try some of your recipes. In fact, I am here to find out more about my favorite dish, Yu Xiang Rou Si and the ingredients in it. A few days ago I made this for a friend of mine from Guangdong and he really liked it too!
Greeting from USA!
Hi, when you are referring to pickled red peppers do you mean pickled chilies? I can find pickled green chilies in a jar are that the ohe> Also when you are referring to peppers are they chilies or capscicums? Confused but I would love to try out this recipe. Would chicken thighs boneless work as well? Thanks if you can clarify.
Hi Lilian,
Firstly, chicken thighs can work for the recipe. And I used Sichuan pickled peppers. But I believe other types of pickled peppers can work too.
Hi Elaine,
I made a variation of this yesterday using deboned chicken drumsticks. As I had no lettuce stem but some left over fresh bamboo shoot and a lonely carrot in my fridge I used those instead. It tasted really great. I think the Yu Xiang stir fry sauce really enhances the fresh taste of the vegetables in this dish.
The next time I find lettuce stems at the grocery store, I’m going to try your original version of this.
Hi Elaine,
I have a question regarding the mushrooms. Do you use 毛木耳 or 黑木耳? The former is typically sold here as “Mu – Er” in the “asia” section of supermarkets. The second is the one I found in the Chinese grocery store. They differ a little bit, as the first one is a little bit thicker, a bit more crunchy and a bit lighter in color.
Unfortunately both are sold as “Wood Ear” or “black” Mushrooms and the Wikipedia page for “ear mushroom” says it’s 毛木耳. Looking at your pictures however I think you might be using 黑木耳.
Andreas,
Yes, there are some differences between the two types. As you said, “毛木耳” is a little bit thicker, more crunchy and lighter in color. So I love to use it in all kinds of salad or vegetable stir fries. “黑木耳” usually is used for stews, soups and stir-fries with heavier sauces like this one in my kitchen.
Thank you very much for the explanation Elaine.
I made this with chicken and it was wonderful, I was wondering if I could use the chili oil or spring onion oils instead of just cooking oil, thank you for some awesome cooking
No. There is no need to use chili oil or spring oil. They may spoil the flavor.
So good, this is my favorite Yu Xiang recipe. Amazing blend of flavors but very easy preparation. Have made this with chicken as well as pork. Thank you!
Thank you Mark. Chicken is a lovely idea.