Hi there, I’m Teacher Wang and I host Lingoinn students from my home in Shijiazhuang, a city in Northern China close to Beijing. I love cooking and experimenting with local recipes such as this Bamboo Stewed Pork and I hope you will enjoy trying out this simple traditional dish. Along with teaching daily Chinese classes to my Lingoinn students during their homestay, I also offer traditional cooking classes so you can go home with a few tricks up your sleeve.
Today, I’m going to show you an easy way to cook this delicious pork with bamboo shoots. In China, stewed pork with soy sauce is very popular from North to South. The essential part of this dish is to make the brown caramelised colour, in Chinese, we call it “炒糖色 chǎo tángsè”. It requires good technique and experience. It takes only 5 steps, so please follow me.
Step 1: Choose some pork belly, in Chinese, we call it “五花肉wǔhuāròu”. Cut the pork into small pieces.
Step 2: Boil the water and add the pork to cook briefly. Drain the pork and add some cold water into the pot. Put the pork immediately back into the cold water and boil it again. This is called “焯水chāoshuǐ” which is a very important step to make the meat not greasy and more fragrant.
Step 3: Drain the pork again and add some water into the pot for the third time. Add some seasoning into the pot: 3 spoons of light soy sauce, 1 spoon of dark soy sauce, 1 spoon of salt and 3 spoons of rock candy. Heat them and when it’s boiled, turn down the heat to low and let stew for about 40-50 minutes until the pork becomes very soft and tender.
Step 4: Prepare some fresh bamboo shoots while the pork is stewing. Bamboo shoots match the stewed pork very well because they can absorb the oil and enhance the aroma of the pork. Add the bamboo shoots into the pot, turn up the heat to high and cook for about 8 minutes. You can add some water if there is little soup left. 
Step 5: After 8 minutes, mix a spoon of potato starch with a small amount of water and pour it over the pork. Stir thoroughly until the pork and shoots are completely coated with the sauce.
Now you can plate this delicious pork on a beautiful dish. The crispy bamboo shoots and tender pork with the sweet-salty taste and soy sauce’s unique aroma! It’s so healthy and irresistible! Time to eat it with your chopsticks!
To learn more about me and the activities you can do with me in Shijiazhuang, check out the Cultural Immersion Programme.
