Stir-Fried Arrow head With Pork Belly Slices 薯菇炒猪肉

  Stir-Fried Arrow head With Pork Belly Slices 薯菇炒猪肉

A scrumptious dish of arrow head or chi koo in Cantonese

Arrow head or chi koo in Cantonese is available only around the Chinese New Year season. The traditional way of cooking arrow head is to place slices of arrow head under chopped pieces of waxed meat and waxed duck and steamed them together. Cooked this way, the oil and flavour from the waxed meat and waxed duck are absorbed by the arrow head which on its own is rather bland. 

My family likes arrow head cooked with pork belly slices, a dish I learnt from my mother.

 

Ingredients

 

300g arrow head, remove skin and slice into pieces

300g pork belly, cut into slices

1 stalk spring onion, cut into 5cm sections

1 stalk Chinese celery, cut into 5 cm sections

3/4 piece  nam yee, mash it

2 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 Chinese rice bowl water

300ml cooking oil

Arrow heads just bought from the supermarket

Deep-fried arrow head pieces which looked like fried potatoes

Pork belly slices

 Spring onion and Chinese celery cut into sections
 

  A bottle of nam yee

 

Instructions

 

1.  Pour the cooking oil into a wok and heat oil until hot.

2.  Add in the arrow head pieces and deep-fry until golden brown.

3.  Dish up and set aside.

4.  Remove oil from wok, leaving only 3 tbsp of the oil in the wok.

5.  Saute minced garlic until light brown and fragrant.

6.  Add in the pork belly slices and mashed nam yee and stir-fry over high heat for 3 minutes.

7.  Add in water and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

8.  Add in the deep-fried arrow head pieces and stir to mix them up and cook until almost dry.

9.  Add in the salt, sugar, spring onion and Chinese celery.

10. Stir to mix evenly.

11. Switch off flame and dish up.

An annual ritual to cook and savour this great dish