Chinese 5 Spice Pork with Soy and Oyster sauce...oink!

Chinese 5 Spice Pork with Soy and Oyster sauce…part of our lunch this past Sunday and luckily the man was out in the garden inspecting (or rather smirking at J) all the plants that I have managed to kill so far and I could get to click in peace…this is yet another one of Mo’s recipe (slightly adapted) and like all of her other recipes it has become one of the regulars at home…

Chinese 5 Spice Pork with Soy and Oyster sauce

Ingredients:

Pork, diced, 500 gms

For the marinade:

Shaoxing rice wine or white wine, 2-3 tbsp

Soy Sauce, 1 tbsp

For baking:

Corn starch, 2 tbsp

Chinese 5 spice powder, ½ - ¾ tsp

Salt, to taste

Pepper, 1 tsp

For the stir fry:

Onion, cut into wedges and petals separated, 1

Garlic, finely chopped, 6-7 cloves

Celery, finely chopped, 1-2 stalks

Green chilies, finely chopped, 1-2 (remove seeds if you want)

Soy sauce, ½ - 1 tbsp

Shaoxing rice wine or white wine, 1 tbsp

Oyster sauce, 1 tbsp

Spring onion/Scallions, whites and greens separated, whites cut into inch long pieces and greens finely chopped, 4-5

Oil, 2 tbsp

Instructions:

Marinate the pork with wine and soy sauce. Let it rest in the refrigerator overnight or a minimum of 4-5 hours.

Bring the pork back to room temperature and preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Discard all the marinating liquid from the pork and sprinkle the pork with the corn starch, Chinese 5 spice powder, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly so that all the pork pieces are covered properly.

Arrange the pork pieces on a well greased baking tray and cover with foil.

Bake covered for 30 minutes and then remove the foil and bake for another 10-12 minutes uncovered. When baking after removing the foil, turn the sides a couple of times to ensure all sides brown up nicely.

Once the pork is done, heat the oil in a wok.

Add garlic and fry for a about a minute or so. Add in the green chilies, celery, onions and white spring onions. Toss around and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Add in the baked pork, wine, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Toss and mix everything well together. Let the veggies and pork cook together with the sauces for 3-4 minutes.

Garnish with green spring onions. Serve hot.

Notes:

• Chinese 5 spice powder is readily available in markets and is normally a blend of equal quantities of ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground star anise , roasted and ground fennel seeds and roasted and ground Szechuan peppercorns. Some blends may also contain nutmeg and ginger. 

• The blend is quite potent and may leave a slightly bitter taste if use in excess. Always use a small quantity. ( just like our very own Garam Masala)