Thai-Style Stir-fried Arrow Heads 薯菇炒猪肉-泰国式

 Thai-Style Stir-fried Arrow Heads  薯菇炒猪肉-泰国式

 Thai-style stir-fried arrow heads with pork belly

I have this Thai recipe with me for the last 30 years and yet I have not tried cooking it before. The recipe used "winter yam" and I could not figure out what "winter yam" was. Three weeks ago as I flipped through my recipe books, I came across this recipe again and it suddenly dawned on me that "winter yam" could be arrow heads! The realisation came because arrow heads are now in season! It so happened I had bought 2 kilos of arrow heads just that morning. The photo shown in the book used plenty of dark soy sauce which made the winter yam unrecognisable. I immediately bookmarked that page, making a silent promise that I would try that recipe which had been eluding me for more than 30 years!

I made several changes to the original recipe as I do not want the dish to be too hot and spicy, nor too dark in colour. Well, it turned out beautifully.

Ingredients

350g pork belly
1 piece fried five-spice powder flavoured tofu, cut into slices
3 pips garlic, minced
7 shallots, thinly sliced
10 chili padi, bruised
1 tsp dark soy sauce
a dash of pepper 
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
300g arrow heads, remove skin and cut into slices 4 mm thick
1/2 cup wine
1 1/2 Chinese rice bowl of water
3 tbsp oil
1 stalk spring onion
1 sprig of Chinese parsley

 Raw arrow heads

 Arrow heads with skin removed

A piece of five-spice flavoured deep-fried tofu

Instructions

 

1.  Heat oil in a wok. Saute the sliced shallots and minced garlic until fragrant.
2.  Add the arrow heads and stir-fry for 1 minute
3.  Add the pork belly slices and stir-fry at high heat for 3 minutes.
4.  Add 1 1/2 bowls of water and tofu pieces. 
5.  Let simmer until almost dry and the arrow heads are softened.
6.  Add the bruised chili padi, wine, pepper, salt and sugar.
7.  Add the spring onion and Chinese parsley and mix well.
8.  Switch off the flame and dish up.