Ground Pork in Black Bean Sauce/Szechwan Style

Hey.  Did you know that there are different types of Chinese cuisine?  Panda Express doesn't count....

Szechwan style originated in the southwest part of China and its known for it's bold flavors and liberal use of garlic and chili.  Um, yes please.  It's no wonder that it's right up my alley.

I was at a Filipino market recently...I know we were just talking about Chinese food, hang in there.  I had never been before and I saw things I had never seen before.  It was fascinating.  There's always some cross mix of Asian items at Asian markets, like Japanese products in Korean markets and that kind of thing.  But any way, I stumbled upon this:

I had to have it!  I've seen it before, but for some reason, it inspired me so I adopted it and brought it home. Only I would be inspired to cook Chinese food while at a Filipino market...

Here's the simplest black bean dish you can make at home.  I used ground pork, but you can use chicken or beef or no meat at all.  You can just make stir fried veggies using this sauce.  It's salty and rich and makes a delicious stir fry.  You can also use whatever veggies you want.  I had originally thought I would use green beans, but I had this Korean squash that needed to be used up so opted to go that route.

Here's what I pulled out of my fridge for this concoction:

1/2 pound of ground pork

fresh, chopped garlic (as much or as little as you want)

I call this gang the aromatics....onion, ginger and dried red chilis 

(if you don't have dried red chilis, you can used crushed red pepper or none at all if you don't want spicy)

King trumpet mushrooms and Korean squash

(King trumpet mushrooms are really meaty when cooked.  You can use any kind you want or none at all.  This was also a fridge cleaning mission for me so I added the mushrooms)

and this bad boy, of course...

Grab some oil to start with too.  I just used olive oil. 

Normally when I cook, I just chop as I go along making sure to add the veggies or meats that need cooking longer first.  In Chinese cuisine, that doesn't really work because everything goes super fast....so I actually chop everything up first before I even turn the heat on.  Trust me....this is super fast.

I used a piece of ginger about the size of a really thick quarter.  Make sure you peel it first.

Then finely mince your ginger.

Here's a pic of the first line of defense...just kidding.  These are your aromatics.  I used about 1 heaping tablespoon of crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger and 6 dried chili peppers. (If you don't have these kinds of dried chili hanging around then feel free to use crushed red pepper..you know, the kind that come with pizza.)

I chopped up my onion, squash and mushrooms.  Here's what the inside of Korean squash looks like.  It's meaty and drier than other kinds of squash.  It soaks up flavor really well.

Here are my veggies.  All ready to go!

In a non-stick pan or well seasoned wok (if you have one) add about 2 tablespoons of oil (I used olive) on med high heat.

Throw in your aromatics.  The smell is immediately amazing.  Careful not to burn.

After a few seconds, I dumped in my ground pork.

When it becomes brown and crispy, add your veggies

Saute for a minute or so until your veggies are soft.  Then add a heaping spoonful of the black bean sauce.

I added about 1/4 cup of beef broth.  You can use water.  Again, I was on a fridge cleaning mission and had a little broth I needed to use up so I used broth.  

Hey, look!  I had a little bit of tofu I needed to use up so I threw it in as well.

And, darn.  I just like my food spicy so I threw in some chili sauce for good measure (but you don't have to).

I let it simmer for another minute and viola!  

If your sauce isn't as thick as you'd like it to be, just add a little cornstarch dissolved in water.

I ate this over rice, but its also good with noodles or even over a bed of fancy greens if you're cutting carbs.

Feel free to try broccoli, asparagus, carrots, or whatever veggies you have on hand. You can add peanuts too if you want.  Black bean sauce is like a miracle stir fry.

Here's a version I made with mushrooms,  bell peppers, celery,  cauliflower and onions with pork.   I also used less water to make it drier and added chopped water chestnuts.  I used it as filling for lettuce wraps.  YUM!

Impress your friends and family with your Szechwan cooking abilities!