Hakka Stir-fry

Ingredients

Main

• 60 gdried squid
• or 200 g fresh squid
• 300 gpork belly, boiled and sliced
• 200 gdried tofu, in strips
• 4celery stalks, in lengths
• or 200 g Chinese celery

Aromatics

• 6shallots, sliced
• or 1 onion, sliced
• 4garlic cloves, sliced
• 2red chillies, sliced
• 4spring onions, in lengths

Sauce

• 3 tablespoonssoy sauce
• 1 tablespoondark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoonsrice wine
• 1 teaspoonsugar
• 1 teaspoonwhite pepper
• 3 tablespoonssquid soaking water

To cook

• 4 tablespoonsoil
• or the rendered pork fat

Directions

1. Put the dried squid in a bowl. Cover it over with warm water. Soak it for at least two hours. Rinse it very well if you do that. Drain it, keeping the soaking water. Rinse it and pat it fully dry. Cut it into strips or squares. Score it lightly in a diamond pattern. That scoring helps it curl attractively. Boil the pork belly until just cooked. Give it about twenty-five minutes.
2. Let it cool down completely first. Cold pork slices far more cleanly. Slice it thinly with the skin on. Cut the dried tofu into strips. Cut the celery into short lengths. Slice the shallots, garlic and chillies. Cut the spring onions into lengths.
3. Mix the sauce ingredients together. Stir-frying moves far too fast to chop as you go. Set everything out in order beside the pan. Have the sauce mixed and ready. Heat a wok or wide pan until very hot. Add a little of the oil to the pan. Add the sliced pork belly to it.
4. Fry it hard for about four minutes. It should brown and crisp at the edges. Lift the pork out and set it aside. Keep the rendered fat in the pan. Add the sliced shallots to the fat. Fry them until fragrant and golden. Give them about two full minutes. Add the garlic and the chillies. Fry them for thirty seconds only.
5. Add the squid strips to the pan. Fry them hard for two minutes. They curl and firm up quickly. Add the dried tofu strips to it. Fry them for a good two minutes. Let them take on a little colour. Return the crisped pork to the pan.
6. Add all the celery lengths to it. Pour in all of the sauce mixture. Toss everything hard together. The pan must stay very hot throughout. Add the spring onions right at the end. Toss them through for thirty seconds.
7. Taste it and adjust the soy sauce. It should be strongly savoury and salty. Add white pepper if it tastes flat. Serving it is done immediately. Tip it all onto a serving plate. Serve plain rice alongside it. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• The dish comes directly from ancestral rites: boiled whole pork, dried squid and dried tofu are standard offerings, and after being set out for the ancestors the cold plain food was fried hard with aromatics rather than wasted.
• The Hakka are a Han Chinese subgroup whose name means guest families, with large communities in Taiwan around Hsinchu and Miaoli, and their cooking is known approvingly as fragrant, salty and oily, which suited hard agricultural work.
• Dried squid must be soaked, and that soaking water is full of flavour and goes into the sauce rather than being thrown away.

Substitutions

• Fresh squid works in place of dried, though it tastes quite different and lacks the chew.
• Chinese celery gives a stronger flavour than ordinary celery.

Variations

• Some cooks add dried shrimp alongside the squid.
• A version with more chilli is made for those who want heat.
• Hakka cooking in Taiwan is centred on Hsinchu and Miaoli.

History

Built from Hakka ancestor-worship offerings: the boiled pork, dried squid and tofu left after rites were re-fried rather than wasted.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hakka Stir-fry?

Hakka Stir-fry is a main from Taiwan: squid, pork belly, dried tofu and celery tossed hard with soy and shallots. Built from Hakka ancestor-worship offerings: the boiled pork, dried squid and tofu left after rites were re-fried rather than wasted.

How long does Hakka Stir-fry take to make?

Hakka Stir-fry takes 30 minutes plus soaking of preparation and 15 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Hakka Stir-fry?

Yes, within limits. Fresh squid works in place of dried, though it tastes quite different and lacks the chew. Chinese celery gives a stronger flavour than ordinary celery.

What is the most important thing to get right in Hakka Stir-fry?

Add all the celery lengths to it. Pour in all of the sauce mixture. Toss everything hard together. The pan must stay very hot throughout. Add the spring onions right at the end. Toss them through for thirty seconds.