Globecooking recipe : Sauteed Noodles, Pork & Bamboo Shoots (China)

I've been working my way through the recipes in the Chinese Kitchen Trotter box this week and the great thing is, they can all be made with ingredients that you're likely to have around the home or that you can easily find in your local supermarket. I didn't think the Madhouse kids would be keen on this so I gave them a taste out of the pan, offering cheese toasties if they didn't like it, and they ate two bowlfuls each so there was barely enough left for me and Madhouse Daddy !

I used three ingredients from the Chinese Kitchen Trotter box - black rice vinegar, chilli paste and Sichuan peppercorns - and used up some leftover crystallised ginger from the Colombian box.

Sauteed Noodles, Pork & Bamboo Shoots

ingredients :

300g Chinese noodles

2tbsp Sichuan peppercorns

250g pork fillet

tin of bamboo shoots

3tbsp black rice vinegar

4tbsp vegetable oil

4tbsp soy sauce

2tsp sugar

1tsp chilli paste

2 spring onions

a small piece of fresh or crystallised ginger

for the pork marinade :

2tbsp soy sauce

2tbsp dry white wine (I used ginger wine)

2tsp cornflour

Put the soy sauce and white wine in a bowl.

Throw in the finely chopped pork (chop when still very slightly frozen to make it easier to get fine slices) and stir. Sprinkle over the cornflour and stir again. Put in the fridge to marinade while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Put the noodles in a large pan or wok, pour over boiling water, stir a couple of times and leave for about 10 minutes (check the pack instructions)  before draining off the water and rinsing in cold water. Reserve. 

Heat up the wok to dry it out. Add the vegetable oil and the Sichuan peppercorns. Heat for 30 seconds until they become dark brown. Fish out the peppercorns but keep the oil in the wok.

Drain the marinade off the pork and fry in the hot, peppery oil for 2-3 minutes. Add the sliced ginger and the chilli paste. Drain the water from the tin of bamboo shoots and add them to the pan.

Stir fry for a couple more minutes then add the noodles. Toss in the soy sauce and the black rice vinegar, then the sugar.

Give it all a good stir, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. (You might need to add extra vinegar, sugar or soy sauce if the sweet, sour, salty balance isn't quite right.) Throw the chopped spring onions on top, stir one last time and serve.

Pierre didn't initially want to eat it because he thought it looked weird, but he was won over by the chopsticks from the Kitchen Trotter box.

In the end, all three of the Madhouse kids loved it and went back for seconds so there was barely enough left for me and Madhouse Daddy. I'll have to increase the quantities next time !

*** Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ! ***

If you fancy trying other Chinese recipes, how about Crunchy Veggie Salad or Sweet & Sour Chicken?