Salt-Fried Pork

盐煎肉

Salt-Fried Pork — SichuanChengdu home cooking.

Ingredients

• pork belly, skinless, finely diced (1 cm)
• fermented broad bean paste (doubanjiang)
• garlic chives or garlic sprouts, cut into 3 cm pieces
• light soy sauce
• Sichuan peppercorn, lightly toasted and ground

Instructions

1. Rinse diced pork and pat completely dry with paper towels. Let sit uncovered 5 minutes to further air-dry surface moisture. (Pork cubes look matte, not shiny or damp.)
2. Heat wok over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles and vanishes instantly. Add pork and stir-fry without oil until fat renders and edges turn golden-brown. (Small droplets of clear fat gather around browned cubes.)
3. Push pork to one side. Add doubanjiang to empty space and stir-fry 30 seconds until oil turns brick-red and fragrance blooms. (Oil separates and deepens to rusty red; tiny bubbles rise steadily.)
4. Mix pork back into sauce. Add light soy sauce and stir-fry 1 minute until evenly coated and glossy. (Each cube glistens with a thin, mahogany-hued glaze.)
5. Add garlic chives and ground Sichuan pepper. Toss 60 seconds — just until chives soften slightly but retain bright green color and crisp-tender bite. (Garlic chives brighten visibly; no yellowing at tips.)