There are several dubious explanations for the name of this dish, which contains no fish. It’s said that the sauce makes the pork taste like fish (it doesn’t), or that the sauce was used to flavour fish first and pork later, or that it was invented in a village named Yixiang, which got mispronounced. Whatever its origin, this sweet, sour, and hot sauce is delicious with fish, chicken, aubergine, and tofu as well as pork or beef. It’s often translated as “hot garlic sauce” on restaurant menus.
YuXiang Rou Si 魚香肉絲 (Yu Xiang Shredded Pork)
Note: The author of this recipe claims: “This is a very spicy dish that relies on heat from pickled chili, which can be purchased from Chinatown markets. In Sichuan many cooks would likely double the amount of chili specified. But you can adjust the amount to suit your own taste.” I know of no evidence for this claim about pickled chillies – dried chillies are often used – but it is true about the quantity.
Chicken could easily be substituted for pork
Ingredients:
12 ozs. pork loin meat
1/3 cup shredded wood ear mushroom (木耳)
1/3 cup shredded bamboo shoots
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Pork Marinade
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Sauce
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped spring onion
2 tablespoons chopped pickled red chili
2 teaspoons light soy sauce (生抽)
1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine (紹興料酒)
2 tablespoon dark Chinese vinegar (鎮江香醋)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoons cornflour
1/2 cup water
Directions
Cut both the pork and bamboo shoots into thin strips of about 1/8 inch thickness and set aside.
Soak dry wood ear mushroom in hot water until soft. Shreds it to about 1/8 inch thickness also and set aside.
Marinate the pork for at least about 20 minutes.
Mix the wet ingredients of the sauce including light soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine, dark Chinese vinegar, and water along with sugar and cornflour then set aside.
Heat the two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok on high heat until it just begins to smoke. Drop the pork into the wok and quickly stir-fry to separate the shreds. Cook until the meat just changes colour, about 2 minutes. Scoop and drain the pork and put in a bowl.
Leave about 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok and put the garlic, spring onion, ginger and pickled chili in. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds or until the oil is fragrant. Put in the bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms and stir-fry for about a minute. Return the partially cooked pork to the wok and add the sauce mixture.
Continue to stir-fry until the sauce is thickened, and serve.
YuXiang Rou Si (2)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 pound pork, cut into 1-inch-long matchsticks
1/4 pound mushrooms, or bamboo shoots, or carrots, cut into the same size as the pork pieces
1 tablespoon Chinese chilli sauce (crushed chillies in oil) or crushed dried red chilli peppers
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar, dissolved in the soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese or white vinegar
2 spring onions, chopped
1 teaspoon cornflour
Directions
Heat the wok, then heat the oil in it. Brown the pork, then remove and reserve.
Stir-fry the vegetables for 1 minute.
Add the chilli sauce, ginger, and garlic, and stir-fry for another 30 seconds.
Add the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, reserved pork, and spring onions.
Mix, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
If desired, thicken the sauce by adding cornflour (dissolved in a little water to make a paste).
Serve with rice.
Yu Xiang Rou Si (3)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
300g shredded pork or pork cut into matchstick sized strips (”Zhu rou si”)
1 carrot and two good sized bamboo shoots cut into the same size as the pork piece
5 or 6 crushed dried red chilli peppers
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons minced garlic
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar, dissolved in the soy sauce
3 teaspoon brown Chinese vinegar
2 chopped spring onions.
1 teaspoon cornflour
Directions
Brown the pork and set aside
Stir fry the bamboo shoots and carrot for 1 minute.
Add chilli, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds longer.
Add the pork, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and spring onions and mix.
Lower the heat and stir through corn flour mixed to a paste with a little water.
Serve.
And finally a German recipe with beef (lamb could be substituted, in theory, but I’ve never actually seen that done in China):
Yuxiang niurou
Dieses Rindfleischgericht hat nichts mit Fisch zu tun, gemeint ist die Zubereitungsart mit Ingwer, Knoblauch, Zucker und Essig, die auch mit anderen Zutaten zu köstlichen Gerichten führt. Wer keine Bambussprossen bekommt oder mag, kann stattdessen 1-2 Karotten nehmen. Das Rindfleisch lässt sich besonders leicht in feine Streifen schneiden, wenn man es vorher einige Stunden ins Gefrierfach legt.
Zutaten
200 g mageres Rindfleisch
1 TL Stärke
1 Eiweiß
2 grüne Paprika 150 g Bambussprossen
1 Frühlingszwiebel
1 TL gehackter Ingwer
2 Zehen Knoblauch gehackt
1 EL Reiswein
1 TL Zucker
2 EL Sojasoße
1 EL Essig
Öl zum Fritieren
etwas Sesamöl
Zubereitung
Rindfleisch, Paprika und Bambussprossen in streichholzfeine Streifen schneiden. Das Rindfleisch mit dem verquirlten Eiweiß und der Stärke gleichmäßig vermischen und 1/2 Stunde marinieren.
Öl erhitzen, die Fleischstreifen sachte hineingeben und mit Stäbchen voneinander trennen, kurz fritieren, mit dem Schaumlöffel herausfischen und auf Küchenkrepp abtropfen lassen.
Wenig Öl erhitzen, Frühlingszwiebeln, Knoblauch, Ingwer anbraten, Paprika und Bambussprossen hinzufügen, kurze Zeit unter ständigem Rühren weiterbraten.
Das Fleisch dazugeben, mit Reiswein, Zucker, Sojasoße und Essig würzen, gut vermischen.
Auf einem Teller anrichten und mit Sesamöl besprenkeln.
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