China South of the Clouds

This recipe, from the Old Theater Inn in Shaxi, uses Sichuan peppercorns in a classic central Yunnan style to give the dish a unique and lovely flavor. It uses both toasted, crushed Sichuan peppercorns and Sichuan peppercorn oil to give the meat and vegetables a subtle flavor and numbing quality.

12 oz lean pork
2 tsp soy sauce
salt
1 medium red bell pepper
1 medium green bell pepper
8 large garlic scapes
2-3 inches ginger (2 tbsp worth)
1 tsp potato starch or corn starch
Toasted crushed Sichuan pepper
1-2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn oil (depending on desired level of flavor)
Canola oil for cooking

1. Cut pork into the thinnest slices possible, then trim each slice into pieces of approximately 1/2 inch by 1 inch. (Though it’s not traditional, some Western cooks find it easier to cut very thin slices if the meat has been frozen first.) Mix pork slices with 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp salt, and set aside.

2. Remove the stems, ribs, and seeds from both bell peppers, then slice them lengthwise into 6ths and then into pieces about 1 inch long. Trim the ends and the dark green parts of the tips from the garlic scapes and cut them into 2-inch pieces. Peel ginger and julienne. Set all vegetables and ginger aside in a bowl.

3. Mix remaining 1 tsp soy sauce and potato starch together in a small bowl with 3 tbsp water, stirring to dissolve the starch, and set aside.

4. Heat 3/4 cup of oil in a wok until very hot. Carefully tip in pork and stir-fry, breaking up the meat where it forms into clumps, until the meat looks cooked on the outside, 1-2 minutes. Remove meat from wok with a perforated scoop, draining away the oil.

5. Discard all but a few tablespoons of the oil, reheat the oil, and add the vegetables and ginger with 1 tsp salt. After two minutes, add the Sichuan pepper and the peppercorn oil and mix ingredients together. Add meat back into the wok along with the soy sauce/potato starch mixture, and continue to stir-fry all ingredients together for one more minute.