Bak Chor Mee

Ingredients

• 400 g fresh mee pok (flat egg noodles)
• 300 g minced pork
• 150 g pork liver
• 8 pork or fish meatballs
• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tbsp dried sole fish (ti po)
• 100 g pork back fat, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 litre pork or chicken stock
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 4 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
• 4 tsp sambal or chilli paste
• 100 g lettuce or choy sum
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• fried shallots, to finish

Before you cook

• Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in warm water for thirty minutes, then squeeze them dry, slice them and keep the soaking liquid.
• Season the minced pork with the Shaoxing wine, one tablespoon of the light soy sauce and the white pepper.
• Slice the pork liver thinly and soak it in cold water for ten minutes, then drain it.
• Dice the pork back fat into small cubes.
• Divide the black vinegar, two tablespoons of the light soy sauce and the sambal between four serving bowls.

Steps

1. Put the diced pork fat into a cold wok and set it over low heat.
2. Render the fat slowly for twelve to fifteen minutes, until the cubes shrink to golden crackling in a pool of clear fat.
3. Scoop the crackling out onto kitchen paper and pour the fat into a heatproof jar.
4. Return two tablespoons of the fat to the wok and raise the heat to medium.
5. Fry the dried sole fish for one minute, until brittle, then lift it out and crumble it.
6. Add the minced garlic to the wok and fry it for ten seconds.
7. Add the sliced mushrooms and fry them for two minutes.
8. Stir in the dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and the reserved mushroom soaking liquid.
9. Simmer the mushrooms for eight minutes, until almost all the liquid has gone.
10. Pour the stock into a saucepan and bring it to a gentle simmer.
11. Season the stock with the remaining light soy sauce and a pinch of white pepper.
12. Drop the meatballs into the stock and poach them for four minutes.
13. Add the minced pork in small clumps and poach it for two minutes, until it turns from pink to pale.
14. Slide in the liver slices, count thirty seconds, then lift everything out with a slotted spoon.
15. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
16. Blanch the lettuce for twenty seconds and set it aside.
17. Cook the mee pok for forty-five seconds, lifting and shaking the basket so the strands loosen.
18. Plunge the noodles into cold water for five seconds, then dip them back into the boiling water for five seconds.
19. Drain the noodles hard and tip them into the bowls holding the vinegar and chilli.
20. Toss the noodles until every strand is coated and glossy.
21. Top with the minced pork, liver, meatballs, braised mushrooms, lettuce, crackling, crumbled sole, spring onion and fried shallots.
22. Serve a small bowl of the hot stock alongside each portion.