Chinese cuisine

Easy

Kung Pao Pork

Lots of amazing flavors going on in this hot and sticky kung pao style stir fry. Check out the Chinese technique known as velveting, whereby the pork is marinated in the starch mixture and quickly fried. The tender pork pieces have a golden and crispy protective coating. The tantalizing kung pao sauce when added becomes thick creating beautiful silky and sticky to the pork and bell pepper pieces perfectly.

Note: Sichuan peppers are an essential part of making an authentic Kung pao dish.

Chef John Zhang

RATING LIKE SAVE PRINT

5 stars rating if you like it!

Done

Recipe

PRE TIME: 20 min

COOKING TIME: 35 min

TOTAL TIME: 55 min

3 SERVING

Ingredients:

1 lb. Pork jowl meat
Marinade
1/4 tsp. Ground salt
2 tbsp. Shaoxing wine
1/8 tsp. White pepper
Batter A
1/3 cup Water
1/2 cup Potato starch
1/2 cup Boiling water
Batter B
2 cup Water
1 cup Corn starch
1/2 cup Potato starch
1 tbsp. Cooking oil
Sauce
1/2 cup Chicken broth
1½ tbsp. Tomato paste
2 tbsp. Sugar
1 tbsp. Light soy sauce
1½ tsp. Corn starch
1 tbsp. Sweet black vinegar
1 tsp. Sesame oil
1 tbsp. Oyster sauce
Deep-fry
2 Qt Cooking oil
Stir-fry
1/2 cup Cooking oil
1 tbsp. Sichuan peppercorn
7 stalks Dried cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. Garlic, minced
1 tbsp. Ginger, minced
2 stalks Green onions
1 loaf of Green bell pepper
1 loaf of Red bell pepper

Directions:

Step 1

Marinate the sliced pork jowl meat with salt, shaoxing wine, and white pepper for 30 minutes.

Step 2

Chop the green and red peppers into small pieces.

Step 3

To make the batter, pour 1/3 cup of room temperature water into a bowl, as well as 1/2 cup of potato starch, plus 1/2 cup of boiling water and stir well; we will refer to this as batter ‘A’.

Step 4

Take another bowl and pour in 1 cup of corn starch and 1/2 cup of potato starch, add 2 cups of room temperature water and stir well; we will refer to this one as batter ‘B’.

Step 5

Pour batter ‘A’ into batter ‘B’ and add oil stir well.

Step 6

For the sauce, pour the chicken broth into a large bowl then add tomato paste, sugar, soy sauce, corn starch, Zhenjiang vinegar, sesame oil, and oyster sauce, stir well, and put aside.

Step 7

Thoroughly coat the meat slices in the mixed batter, then drop into the frying pan for one minute, and take it out.

Step 8

After the slices cool down, drop into the frying pan again for 30 to 40 seconds, remove, and repeat this process 2 or 3 times more to make them crispier. Take another pan and add a little oil.

Step 9

Add Sichuan peppercorns and dried chili then fry until it smells aromatic. Scoop out the Sichuan peppercorns and the dried chili.

Step 10

In the same pan, add garlic, minced ginger, green onions, green and red sweet peppers to the pan and stir-fry, then put the sauce and fried meat into the pan and stir evenly; make it simple and fast, so that the meat keeps its crispiness for longer.

Step 11

Now it's ready to serve.

Final Notes

Tips: When making the batter, part of the potato starch must be mixed with boiling water so that the meat slices are not sticky when frying.