Shanghainese rice cake and pork stir-fry
Sticky, chewy Chinese rice cakes (nian gao) are delicious in a stir-fry and perfect for Lunar New Year. This recipe uses pork but you can use any protein you like.
Ingredients
For the pork and rice cakes
- 3-5 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 tbsp stir-fry sauce (from below)
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 150²µ/5½´Ç³ú pork shoulder steak, sliced into thin strips
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 spring onions, chopped into 2.5cm/1in pieces
- 200g/7oz bok choi (cut into 2.5cm/1in pieces)
- 200g/7oz savoury Chinese rice cakes (nian gao), defrosted if frozen see Recipe Tip
For the stir fry sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- ¼ tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
- ½ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- drizzle sesame oil
Method
For the pork and rice cakes, put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour over hot water. Leave for at least 15 minutes to rehydrate. Squeeze out the water from the mushrooms before slicing, reserving the mushroom water for later.
To make the stir-fry sauce, combine the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, sugar, ground white pepper and a drizzle of sesame oil in a bowl.
Combine a tablespoon of the sauce with the cornflour in a bowl and add the pork. Mix well and leave to marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or pan over a high heat and fry the pork on all sides. Add the garlic, sliced mushrooms and spring onions, and stir fry on a high heat for a minute.
Add the bok choi and rice cakes, then add 4 tablespoons of the water reserved from rehydrating mushrooms. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove the lid, pour in the remaining sauce, and stir fry everything together over a medium heat for a minute or until everything is coated well in the sauce and piping hot. Serve on plates.
Recipe Tips
The savoury Chinese rice cakes will be white and oval shaped. You can find them in the refrigerator or freezer section of a Chinese supermarket, next to the fresh noodles and dumpling wrappers.