Poyang Lake Artemisia with Cured Pork

Ingredients

• 300 g artemisia selengensis stems, or 300 g asparagus or garlic scapes
• 180 g Jiangxi or Hunan smoked cured pork belly (larou)
• 2 fresh red chillies
• 4 cloves garlic
• 20 g fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp groundnut oil

Before you cook

• Rinse the cured pork under warm water to wash off surface salt.
• Snap the artemisia stems where they break cleanly and discard the woody bottoms.
• Cut the tender stems into four-centimetre lengths.
• Cut the chillies into strips, and finely slice the garlic and ginger.

Steps

1. Set the cured pork in a bowl and steam it over boiling water for fifteen minutes until it is soft enough to slice.
2. Cool the pork slightly, then slice it thinly, keeping the fat attached to the lean.
3. Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch the artemisia stems for twenty seconds.
4. Drain the stems and refresh them under cold running water so they stay bright green.
5. Heat a wok over a high flame and add the groundnut oil.
6. Lay in the pork slices and fry them for ninety seconds, until the fat turns clear and the edges curl.
7. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli strips and stir them for twenty seconds.
8. Tip in the drained artemisia and toss everything hard for forty-five seconds.
9. Splash the Shaoxing wine round the rim of the wok.
10. Season with the soy sauce, salt and sugar, and toss twice more.
11. Turn the stir-fry out onto a plate the moment the stems are still squeaky and crisp, and eat straight away.