Over rice, Guizhou edition! There’s tons of dishes in Guizhou that’re perfect to smother over rice, and these are a few of our favorites.
0:00 – Why is Guizhou food so good over rice?
1:12 – Spicy “Zaola” Pork Slivers
5:22 – Crispy Pork Belly & Fermented Soybean
9:42 – Corn with Tomato & Chili
12:54 – More Guizhou ‘Over Rice’?
ZAOLA PORK SLIVERS
Note that you can use Zaolajiao as a base of this dish, or as Steph implied in the VO, you can also use Hunanese Duojiao (“Chopped Chilis”). The former is getting increasingly available abroad nowadays; the latter should be available at the vast, vast majority of Chinese supermarkets.
Zaolajiao:
https://www.yamibuy.com/en/p/laoganma-pickled-chili-750g/1021045731
Duojiao:
https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/TTX-Ferment-Chili-Sauce/11254
* Zaolajiao, i.e. Laoganma “Pickled Chili” (糟辣椒), 3 tbsp. Finely minced
* Aromatics:
Garlic, 2 cloves, minced
Ginger, ~1/2 inch, minced
* Lean pork (瘦肉/外脊肉), 200g. Cut into slivers
* Marinade for the pork:
Salt, ¼ tsp
Sugar, ½ tsp
Cornstarch, ½ tsp
Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (绍酒/料酒), 1 tsp
Dark soy sauce (老抽), ¼ tsp
* Green garlic (蒜苗), preferably, -or- scallion, ~2 stalks. White and green separated. White slightly smashed; green cut into half inch sections
* Spicy dried chilis, e.g. Xiaomila, Thai Bird’s Eye, 2. Halved
* Oil, for frying, ~4 tbsp
* Baijiu -or- Shaoxing wine (白酒 or 绍酒), 1 tbsp
* Soy sauce (生抽), ½ tbsp
* Final seasoning:
MSG (味精), ¼ tsp
Dark Chinese vinegar (香醋/陈醋), ¼ tsp
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), 1/8 tsp
Mince the zaolajiao and the aromatics. Halve the chilis. Slice the green garlic (or scallion) and the pork. Marinate the pork.
Longyau with 4 tbsp of oil. Over a max flame, heat the oil until it can rapidly bubble around a pair of chopsticks. Add in the marinated pork. Fry for about one minute, or until it changes color. Remove.
Remove one or two tablespoons of the frying oil, keeping 2-3 tbsp in the wok.
Over a low flame, add in the minced zaolajiao. Slowly fry for 2-3 minutes, or until it’s stained the oil red/orange. Add the ginger and the garlic, fry until fragrant, ~30 seconds. Up the flame to high.
Add the green garlic (or scallion) whites together with the dried chili. Brief fry, then swirl the baijiu (or the Shaoxing) over the spatula and around the sides of the wok. Add back in the cooked pork, brief fry. Swirl the soy sauce in in the same manner as the wine. Mix, then add in the final seasoning. Mix again, then add the green garlic (or scallion) greens. Brief 15 second fry, then out.
CRISPY PORK BELLY WITH DOUCHI
* Natto, preferable medium or large gain, also preferably unseasoned, 80 grams
* Pork belly (五花肉), 400g. Cut into 3mm slices
* Seasoning for the pork belly:
Salt, ¼ tsp
White pepper powder, ~1/8 tsp
* Aromatics:
Green garlic (or scallion), 1 stalk; white smashed, green sliced
Garlic, 2 cloves, cut into slices
Spicy dried chili, e.g. Xiaomila or Thai Bird’s Eye, ~4, halved
* Baijiu -or- Shaoxing wine (白酒 or 绍酒), 1 tsp
* Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tsp
* Final seasoning:
Salt, 1/8 tsp
MSG (味精), 1/8 tsp
Sugar, ¼ tsp
Slice the pork belly, the green garlic (or scallion), and the garlic. Halve the chilis.
Swirl in about a tablespoon of oil into a wok, and over a medium flame add in the pork belly. Add in the ‘seasoning for the pork belly’ for a bit of base flavor. Fly until the pork has changed color and the frying oil’s clear once again, ~2 minutes.
Lower the flame to medium-low. Slowly fry the pork belly until the lard’s rendered oil and the pork belly is nice and crispy, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the pork.
Remove most of the lard that rendered out (reserve for another use), leaving ~2 tbsp inside.
Flame on medium, add in the natto. After ~3 minutes of stir frying, the sticky natto strings will form into a gloop. Remove the gloop and continue to fry the natto for 3-5 minutes, or until the natto becomes loose and slightly crispy. Move the natto to the side.
Add in the aromatics. Fry until fragrant, ~30 seconds, then up the flame to high. Mix with the natto, swirl in the wine. Add in the crispy pork belly, mix, swirl in the soy sauce.
Add in the ‘final seasoning’. Mix well, then add in the green part of the green garlic (or scallion).
CORN & TOMATO
* Sweet corn, 1 ear
* Tomato, 1
* Green chilis, medium sized, medium spicy
* Aromatics:
Scallion, 1 stalk; white minced, green sliced
Garlic, 2 cloves, minced
* Spicy dried chilis, e.g. Xiaomila, Thai Bird’s Eye, 2. Cut in half
* Baijiu -or- Shaoxing wine (白酒 or 绍酒), 1 tsp
* Water, ¾ cup
* Salt, ¼ tsp
* Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tsp
Hey Guys, a few notes.
1. For zaolajiao(糟辣椒), Laoganma’s product is legit and decent, so do get a jar if you see one. You can use this stir fry base to fry up other stuff you like. Some other ingredients that’re common are Dry/Gan/Five-Spice Tofu (dougan) + pork sliver, minced pork, konjac jelly, minced beef, twice cooked pork (Guizhou style twice cooked pork uses zaolajiao), vegetables, and even rice or rice noodles.
You can also use zaolajiao as a base for braises. Basically you can follow the video and start by stir frying, then add water to it and start a quick 20 minute-ish braise. Some of my favorite zaola braises include mince pork with rice tofu, taro, tofu, potato, or anything that’s a sponge for flavor.
You can also fry up the zaola base, top it over fish, ribs, or other cuts of meat, and then steam it.
2. For crispy pork belly, like we mentioned in the video, is originally a dish to use up leftover cracklin from making lard. If you’re making lard, this is a dish with maximum deliciousness to use it up. In Guizhou, you can buy readymade crispy pork at the market, they’re called cuishao (脆哨, a crispy type, which we had a video on: https://youtu.be/f1XYlGLBm0U) or ruanshao (软哨, a softer type).
When using pork belly, you can control the “crispiness” to your liking. Generally, we like it harder and crispier, sometimes in Guizhou you’ll find something that’s softer, or sometimes it can be even harder that’s more of a drinking food than over rice food (like this one we had in Liupanshui: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKt2SzbBdid/?utm)
3. When getting natto, if all you can get is small grains, that’ll work too, the beans will just be smaller and you’ll probably want to eat it with a spoon haha.
If you’re making your own natto (which is quite simple actually), you can sun dry the fermented beans till it’s no longer sticky on the surface, before which you can rinse off the stickiness or not (I prefer not to), then you’ll have something that’s very similar to some of these douchi from Guizhou. I’ve also seen some “dry natto snack” (https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Dried-JAPANESE-SAKURA-OTAKU/dp/B09NN6WBNF), however, never tried it myself so I can’t say for sure the similarity.
4. If your natto is seasoned, taste it before stir frying. This recipe is based on unseasoned natto, i.e., when I taste it before frying, there’s hardly any salinity I can catch. If you’re working with seasoned natto, adjust the soy sauce and/or MSG quantity in the final stir fry.
5. About waxy corn. After a quick look around, I found they sell something vacuumed sealed on Weee! (use the search term “糯玉米”): https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/Helene-Sticky-Corn-Frozen/7259
https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/Choripdong-Sweet-Corn–Frozen/25894.
I believe these are the “snack type”, which are sweeter than the white waxy corn that we usually get in Guizhou. However, they got great texture and would totally work in this dish. Because they’re cooked and kinda sweet, you can follow the recipe directly in the video and you’ll be fine.
Alternatively, you can cook some dry corn first and then stir fry it. Just like making soups but stir fry instead. Also, as a Patron pointed out, you can get cans of “white Mexican corn” and they’re less sweet. If that’s easily available to you, do give it a try.
For those living in Asia (or Mexico too, maybe?), you’d probably be able to get the fresh white waxy one too. Here in Bangkok, they ship them from the north and we can get them at our local market, they also sell it on the street as a snack. They usually look like this: https://m.yunnan.cn/pic/003/029/371/00302937128_5d1fd590.jpg, this is something very similar to the ones Yunnan province (in fact, I believe they're the same cultivar).
If you’re working from fresh waxy corn, remember to use at least 1 and 3/4 cup of water and cook it for at least 15 minutes till it’s completely soft, otherwise it'll taste very blend.
Sorry that we've kinda been AWOL, Chris went back to the US for a couple weeks to see his family and I've been deep in working on translating a book on Macanese cooking these couple months. But Chris is coming back today and I just finished that project yesterday, so things should be back to a more "normal" schedule.
Anyway, that’s all I can think of right now, hope you like this one and enjoy your rice!
Caution on random "pickled chilli" products. One I bought recently could better be described as "salt-brined" rather than "fermented" (guess it must have been "DuoJiao", thanks Steph!) . I added a heap of it and it almost made my end product inedibly salty.
For that matter, some Doubianjiang's are saltier than others (LKK's is pretty salty), if I'm using it, I never add extra salt or soy sauce, so just be aware if you're trying a new brand.
God I love pork belly and lard
You can look for "choclo" corn in South American markets. This is a waxy corn. Alternatively, waxy corn is also livestock or feed corn in the US…if you're feeling ambitious.
Do you guys use the shiny wok for corn tomato stirfry because you worried of damaging your veteran wok's seasoning? I remember reading somewhere that wok's seasoning will be severely degraded when cooking something sour and has lots of water
oh my, I'm so happy! I've had this jar of Laoganma fermented chilli for quite a while now (I suspect it can't go bad in a fridge) and didn't really know how to use it. Mainly because I found it quite salty and was scared. Definitely going to use up that jar real quick now! Much love for all you do!
we get really good sweet corn here, i have got to try this one
Jajajaja that third one is straight up salsa •́ ‿ ,•̀ 🇲🇽❤️🇨🇳
I really appreciate that you often include vegetarian options to your recipes! Thanks a lot!
Just wanted to let you know, I sometimes still cook your vegetables in water.
The only thing is the dipping sauce makes me lazy.
I devour those in 10 minutes and I didn’t need more than that.
Thanks for the simple recipe.
I will always, always, ALWAYS click on an over rice dish video from Steph and Chris. Keep 'em coming!
I need your blog with recipes ❤
You're so pretty! You should try parting your hair on the side and doing a 20's bob. And get cat eye glass frames.
I notice the different wok for the last one. I'm supposing it's because of the tomato acid and it's impact on a properly seasoned pan?
👍👍🔥🔥
8:26 My life philosophy
Xian Fan-ability overload 🤤
We grow jalapeños every summer. We found that we can cut off the stems, and throw the jalapeños in the food processor, and after we have chopped hot peppers, we throw it onto a saucepan, add salt, apple cider vinegar, bring it to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, and jar. It seems to last all year in the fridge, and we use it when a Chinese dish calls for pickled chiles.
I think a possible western substitute for Chinese field corn would be canned hominy. I have no objection, though, to sweet corn, what’s not to like here?
Can I make a request for you to demistify something? I've heard of a dish called "stinky tofu" a couple of times, but i have no idea what it is. I assume it's some sort of fermentation that makes it "stinky," but I don't know anything about it for sure. I don't even know if it really is stinky, or if that's just a corruption of a word that means something more like "fragrant." I'd really appreciate a video talking about it, but if it really is stinky, I wouldn't want you guys to have to make it lol
Ok, this is the only way I'll ever eat nattō, or trust nato. Thanks Chris and Steph.
I've said this before but "pickling" can include vinegar preservation, but it can ALSO include fermentation, so calling them pickled is not inaccurate, just uncommon in the west
for example, kosher dill pickles are fermented, they just preserve them in vinegar after they've been fermented
Oh my gosh I'm so excited to make more of these.
I recently discovered we can get waxy corn at the Hmong and Karen farmers markets here in Minnesota. I can't wait to try this in the summer.
Can you do braised beef tendon? I had it in Singapore two weeks ago and it was amazing. There was also some really good spicy fried eggplant and green bean dish. It had a really interesting umami quality too it that may just be the result of garlic and a bit of oyster sauce but maybe there's a bit of scallion oil going on?
I have leftover pickled chili sauce from your Fish Flavor Sichuan Yuxiang Pork recipe. Would that work for the pork here?
I love this channel, but I'm curious if you guys know how to make any 'American' Chinese dishes (not authentic Chinese food) — I don't expect you to post any videos on the topic, I'm just curious. I mean the stuff you would find in any Chinese restaurant in America, in say… 1987. Sweet and sour chicken with pork fried rice, BBQ pork and egg rolls. Oh yeah, don't forget the side of fried shrimp, LOL! And the HOT MUSTARD.
It's so good, despite being Chinese in name only. I'm extremely interested in the origin and evolution of these dishes — were they modified Chinese recipes, to suit American tastes? Created from scratch? How did they become nearly universal? Would Chinese people refuse to eat these dishes (not suited to their tastes?). I don't know why I find this so fascinating, but it can be applied to other cultures as well, such as American Mexican food, or pizza/Italian, etc.