Twice-cooked Pork (hui Guo Rou)

Simple preparation, minimum of ingredients, but full of flavor. If you've been searching for a recipe in which to use your soybean paste, this is it!

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 lb  pork tenderloin (all fat and connective tissue removed)
• 1  tablespoon mirin (rice wine)
• 2  slices ginger
• 1  clove garlic, paper removed,flattened but still in one piece
• 1  leek
• 1  red bell pepper
• 2  tablespoons  peanut oil
• 1  tablespoon sambal oelek or 1  tablespoon  chili paste, of your choice
• 2  tablespoons  soybean paste
• 1  tablespoon dark soy sauce

Directions

1. Place the pork in a large saucepan and cover with water; bring to the boil.
2. When it is boiling, add the mirin and ginger.
3. Cook the pork for 20 minutes, then remove from the water and allow to cool (discard the other contents of the pan).
4. When the pork is cool enough to handle, slice across the grain as thinly as possible in pieces about 2 inches long.
5. Clean the leek and slice in half lengthwise, then slice in 1 inch pieces.
6. Clean the bell pepper, remove seeds, and chop in pieces similar in size to the leek.
7. Heat a wok over medium-high to high heat.
8. Add the oil, and when it is hot, add the flattened garlic clove.
9. Fry the garlic until it is very brown, then remove it and discard.
10. Add the chopped leek to the wok, and cook for 1 minute, stirring all the while.
11. Add the bell pepper pieces, and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring continuously.
12. Push the vegetables to the side of the wok and add the sambal oelek in the middle; heat briefly.
13. Add the soybean paste, soy sauce, and the pork slices, mixing all well and insuring the pork is covered with all the spicy mixture.
14. Cook only for another 1-2 minutes, until everything is heated through.