What do you eat when you’re pressed for time or not feeling much like cooking? The day after I’ve done a service for the pop-up restaurant I am usually both, and meals can be a bit of an afterthought.
One of the nice things about the pop-up restaurant situation, though, is that the leftovers usually come home with me. They need to be used up to avoid waste, of course, but that’s the boring reason to use up leftovers. Much more interesting is the part where, even though I’ve spent a couple of days with the particular foodstuff(s) in question already, I get to enjoy some pretty darn good food. When the food was good to begin with, leftovers are hardly a trial.
In this case, a half-empty tub of the filling that was used in pork wonton came home with me yesterday, and since it had been opened and partly used, I wanted to make sure to use it up promptly. I also wanted to make sure it was really well cooked, just to be on the safe side. I tipped it into a blazing-hot wok and let it render out a little of its own fat and juices, added a small slug of double black soy sauce, then fried it to a nice golden brown, letting a few patches get some crust on them to intensify the flavor.
While the pork was cooking I cleaned a few big handfuls of tender spring arugula (that’s rocket to you speakers of British English) that I’d picked up at the Saturday farmer’s market from my go-to greens vendor, Gardener’s Gourmet. I filled a big bowl, the kind I use for bibimbap and other one-bowl feasts, with the greens and then scooped a wok ladle-ful of the sizzling meat over it, doused it with a tablespoon or two of ginger-infused Chiankiang vinegar and a dollop of chili-garlic paste.
The verdict? Excellent. I kept a backup bowl of extra greens on the table and just kept adding arugula to the bowl until I had eaten all the meat. The fattiness of the pork balances the bitterness and astringency of the greens perfectly, without hiding that great nutty quality that good arugula has. The vinegar and chili-garlic paste gave it the right blend of acidity, salt, and savor that tied it all together.
Next time I make wonton filling, I’m going to make extra, so I can do this on purpose.
Very Basic Pork Wonton Filling
1 pound minced or coarsely ground pork, preferably a somewhat fatty cut
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
4 teaspoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon double black soy sauce (or use regular soy sauce if you don’t have the double black)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 dried black mushrooms, soaked in boiling water 30 minutes, stemmed, caps roughly minced
8-10 water chestnuts, peeled and finely chopped
about 1/2 cup finely chopped scallion, white parts primarily
2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
ground white pepper (to taste) (optional)
Thoroughly combine the pork, garlic, sherry, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Let stand 10-15 minutes. Mix in the mushrooms, water chestnut, scallion, oyster sauce, and pepper, if using. Cover tightly and refrigerate 1 hour or longer before using.
Ginger-Infused Chinkiang Vinegar
2 cups Chinkiang vinegar
1/2 cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger root
Place vinegar and ginger root in a sterilized glass jar. Cap the jar. Let the vinegar stand at room temperature 24 hours, then refrigerate 1 week before using. Store the vinegar in the refrigerator. You can use both the vinegar itself and the ginger that is in it.
Sweet Chili-Garlic Paste
15-40 dried chiles of your choice (fewer if they’re big, more if they’re small) stemmed and seeded, inner membranes removed
boiling water
8 or more peeled cloves fresh garlic, to taste
4 or more Tablespoons Chinese yellow sugar, Mexican panela, or other unrefined sugar (jaggery, gur, piloncillo, rapadura… whatever you’ve got or can lay hands on), to taste
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
neutral oil, like peanut oil, grapeseed oil, canola oil
Soak the chiles in boiling water for 20 minutes, until fairly pliable. Some kinds of chiles may need to soak longer. You are looking for a consistency like that of fruit leather. Drain the chiles and shake the excess water off of them.
Put the chiles in the bowl of a food processor along with the garlic, sugar, and salt. Add sufficient oil to almost cover the chiles and puree at high speed until the mixture is as smooth as you can get it. You will need to scrape down the bowl a few times. Taste as you go and, if needed, correct the balance of flavors by adding small amounts of sugar or salt, or additional half-cloves of garlic. Pack into a clean glass or plastic container, cover, and let sit at room temperature 6 hours or overnight, then refrigerate.
Do re-taste this after it sits a while, because the flavor of the chiles will bloom over time and thus the flavor balance can change quite a bit. Taste it before you refrigerate it, and correct the seasonings as you like.
Note: For a mild chili paste that is very versatile, use dried guajillo chiles, which are quite large and have a nice smoky presence that I find smooth and likeable. Serrano chiles are delicious in this, and are hotter although still not scorching. I’ve never made it with anything hotter than serranos, but you may feel free to let your conscience be your guide.
