flipSuan dou jiao — stir-fried fermented long beans with minced pork
Suan dou jiao — stir-fried fermented long beans with minced pork
Why this dish? A very common domestic dish in rural Hunan, where Mao came from: jar-fermented vegetables were the way to get through winter and to enliven rice. Mao retained a lifelong taste for these sour and spicy flavors of his peasant childhood.
Long beans (dou jiao) fermented in brine until sour, then stir-fried over high heat with minced pork, garlic, and chili. Tangy, crunchy, burning: a condiment that makes bowls of rice disappear.
When winter came to the village, there were no fresh vegetables anymore. So my mother put the long beans in a jar, in brine, and they turned sour — that's what made them good! A little pork, lots of garlic, chili, and you see three bowls of rice vanish without noticing. The poor knew how to draw flavor from almost nothing.
- •Long beans fermented in brine — a handful (tangy fermented crunch)
- •Fatty minced pork — a little (umami and binder)
- •Garlic, ginger, dried chili — to eye (burning aromatics)
- •Salt, brine — as needed (fermentation and preservation)
Suan dou jiao — stir-fried fermented long beans with minced pork
Long beans (dou jiao) fermented in brine until sour, then stir-fried over high heat with minced pork, garlic, and chili. Tangy, crunchy, burning: a condiment that makes bowls of rice disappear.
Why this dish? A very common domestic dish in rural Hunan, where Mao came from: jar-fermented vegetables were the way to get through winter and to enliven rice. Mao retained a lifelong taste for these sour and spicy flavors of his peasant childhood.
When winter came to the village, there were no fresh vegetables anymore. So my mother put the long beans in a jar, in brine, and they turned sour — that's what made them good! A little pork, lots of garlic, chili, and you see three bowls of rice vanish without noticing. The poor knew how to draw flavor from almost nothing.
Ingredients (period version)
- Long beans fermented in brine — a handful (tangy fermented crunch)
- Fatty minced pork — a little (umami and binder)
- Garlic, ginger, dried chili — to eye (burning aromatics)
- Salt, brine — as needed (fermentation and preservation)
Ingredients
- Fermented long beans (or green beans) (suan dou jiao, in Asian jar) — 250 g (tangy fermented crunch)
- Minced pork — 150 g (umami and binder)
- Minced garlic — 3 cloves (aromatic)
- Grated ginger — 1 tsp (aromatic)
- Dried red chilies — 2 (Hunan fire)
- Neutral oil — 1 tbsp (stir-fry)
- Soy sauce — 1 tsp (seasoning)
Method
- Quickly rinse the fermented beans and cut them into small segments (if very salty, soak 10 minutes).
- Heat oil in a wok over high heat, sear the minced pork until browned.
- Add garlic, ginger, and chilies, stir-fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the fermented beans, stir-fry over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes until crunchy and fragrant.
- Deglaze with a splash of soy sauce, taste before adding salt (the beans are already salty).
- Serve piping hot, as a small shared dish, with plenty of white rice.
How it was made : Lactic fermentation in stoneware jars was THE preservation technique in the Chinese countryside before modern refrigeration: summer vegetables lasted through winter and gained a sought-after sourness. Every Hunan household had its jars of sour vegetables.
The contemporary twist : Serve in a small warm appetizer verrine, topped with a soft-boiled quail egg, Hunan-style tapa.
Mao Zedong · Charactorium
