Pork laurel Shandong-style

This is a superior version of Pork Laurel, with crunchiness of bamboo shoots and Wooden Ears giving it an added texture.

1/4 lb (100 g) pork
2 spring onions
1/4 lb (100 g) bamboo shoots
1/2 oz (15 g) Wooden Ears
3 eggs
4 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine or sherry
a few drops sesame seed oil

Method

Soak the Wooden Ears in warm water for about 20 minutes. Shred the pork in matchstick-sized segments; do the same with the spring onions, bamboo shoots and Wooden Ears.

Lightly beat the eggs and scramble them in hot oil, dishing them out before they set too hard. Heat up some more oil, stir-fry the spring onions and pork together for a short while, then add bamboo shoots and Wooden Ears with salt, soy sauce and wine. Stir for about 1 minute, adding a little stock or water if necessary. Finally, add the scrambled eggs and sesame seed oil and blend all the ingredients well before serving.

A variation of this recipe is to use dried Tiger Lily (also called ‘yellow flower’ in Chinese) instead of bamboo shoots. The method of cooking is exactly the same, but of course the flavour and texture will be slightly different.

© Deh-Ta Hsiung and reproduced with his kind permission.