Stir Fry Salted Vegetable with Pork 咸菜猪肉

"Tingkat"
Picture taken from ecollo.com

When I was young, I used to envy kids of my age having the opportunity to have regular takeway or restuarant food. Mum will cook basically lunch and dinner though she worked held a full time job. As she has a big family to feed, 7 children. It was more economical to do so than to buy food from takeway or restaurant. It was once in a blue month, we would enjoy that luxury. However, as we aged we, siblings started to appreciate and treasure every meals/dishes my mum has cooked with all her love and heart. My 4th sister and my youngest brother who are staying close to my mum have asked my mum to cook dinner's dishes for them and mum will pack them in  "tingkat", known as Tiffin Carrier -Metal tins with 2 or 3 more compartments stacked up to store food and they will come over to collect the "tingkat" after work. She is a great cook and knew how to replicate a dish she came across on TV. My 3rd sister has moved to stay with me just before my relocation to NZ, she is self-employed and returned home late daily. Mum will keep portion of food for her, after a few months she has to tell mum to stop saving up food for her, it was not that she don't like/enjoy her cooking it was she has put on alot of weight due to the delicious food she has cooked. Hahaha...Enough of my stories...

Last Sunday, rang mum for her recipe of stir fry salted vegetable with pork- 咸菜猪肉. My4th sister and I simply swear by it. In Chinese, there is saying if you eat too much of salted vegetable 咸菜, your life is will hard and miserable. Anyway, it is just a myth.

Salted Vegetable (Pickled Vegetables) can be salty and sour in taste, so it is necessary to soak it in water for at least an hour before cooking.

Serving for 3-4
Ingredients:
350g Salted Vegetable (Pickled Vegetables)

200g Pork, slice into thin strips

1 Medium Tomato, cut into wedges

2 Cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 1/2 Tablespoon Oil
3 Tablespoon Sugar or more ( As it can be sour, so you will adjust according to individual taste preference)
1/2 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce

200ml Water
1 Teaspoon Corn starch mix with some water

Seasoning for Pork

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
Dash of White Ground Pepper

1. Marinate the pork strips with the seasoning for at least 30mins in the fridge.
2. Remove the salted vegetable from the packet, wash it and soak it in a bowl of water for 30mins or longer to reduce the saltiness of the vegetable. Squeeze dry the salted vegetable and cut it into thin strips.
3. Heat up a pan with oil in medium low heat. Brown the garlic.
4. Add in the pork strips, stir fry for a min in high heat and add in the salted vegetable. Stir and mix well with the pork. Add in the water, reduce the heat to low. Add it the sugar and dark soy sauce. Cover with a lid, simmer in low heat for 40mins. The longer it simmer, the better the flavour would be.

5. Add in the tomato and stir fry with the pork and vegetable in high heat til it boils. Add in the corn starch water to thicken the gravy, stir thoroughly. Dish up and serve with boiled rice or rice porridge.