A super simple and easy-to-make pork belly and Chinese chive stir fry that can be made within 10 minutes. It is a fabulous stir fry with crispy pork belly, crunchy chives, and a subtle hint of spice.
Do you love Chinese chives, known Jiu Cai in Mandarin? It is a very popular Chinese spring ingredient in many famous dishes like chive dumplings, spring rolls, and even chive pancakes or chive box.
But we love to use it in stir fry too because of its unique flavor and texture. Chinese chives will have a super crunchy texture even after they are well-cooked. In most cases, I stir-fry Chinese chives with bean sprouts, or mainly with scrambled eggs. But in this recipe, we will introduce something new to you: pork belly and Chinese chive stir fry.
“Crispy ” the pork belly
The crucial step for this recipe is to stir-fry your pork belly with some patience. We will need around 2-3 minutes to release the pork fat and develop a beautiful golden brown color. This will give them slightly crispy edges, then a lovely comparison with the chives.
Prepare everything Before Starting.
Chinese chives are super quick to cook, so the stir-frying process only takes around 10 seconds. I will highly recommend preparing everything by hand to avoid overcooking.
Make it the last dish.
Although pork belly is used, I will still recommend you make this stir fry as your last dish when cooking multiple dishes. Just like dark green leaf dishes, it turns dark and loses its crispy texture in a very short time. So make sure you serve it just after finishing the stir fry.
Ingredients
- 100g pork belly, skin removed – I dice the pork belly into small cubes because they develop a crispy crust on all sides while rendering fat more efficiently than strips or slices. The small dice are distributed evenly throughout the chives. So you can have two textures in each bite.
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil (if needed)
- 200g Chinese chives
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1-2 Thai red peppers (adjust to taste)
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce – brown the pork belly
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Firstly, wash the Chinese chives and remove any dirt from the surface. Remember to clean carefully and then strain the extra water off. This is the key step because the water will spoil the flavors. Then cut the chives into 4cm segments.
Remove the skin of the pork belly and then cut it into small pieces. Then roughly mince the garlic.
In a wok, add around 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and swirl to coat. Place the pork belly in and fry for around 2-3 minutes until golden brown, and release the animal fat.
Place the Thai pepper and garlic in, and add dark soy sauce. Fry for another half minute until aromatic.
I add dark soy sauce here to darken the color of pork belly cubes only, not influencing the bright green color of the chives.
Add the chives in, quickly mix for a while. Add sugar and salt, and add light soy sauce along with the edges of the wok.
Mix everything well and transfer it immediately.
- 100 g pork belly skin removed
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil if needed
- 200 g Chinese chives
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1-2 Thai red peppers adjust to taste
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce – deep the brown color of the pork belly
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
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Firstly, wash the Chinese chives and remove any dirt from the surface. Remember to clean carefully and then strain the extra water off. This is the key step because the water will spoil the flavors. Then cut the chives into 4cm segments.
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Remove the skin of the pork belly and then cut it into small pieces. Then roughly mince the garlic.
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In a wok, add around 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and swirl to coat. Place the pork belly in and fry for around 2-3 minutes until golden brown, and release the animal fat.
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Place the Thai pepper and garlic in, and add dark soy sauce. Fry for another half minute until aromatic.
