smoked tea black bean noodles with pork

Pork

Smoked Tea Black Bean Noodles with Pork

Fermented black beans + lapsang souchong + pork = LOVE. I have been braising all manners of pork in various combinations of the above formula for a few years now and it never disappoints. As delicious as it is, it does typically take a chunk of time for my normal preparations (ribs, shoulder) though I have made a pressure cooker version that is quite good. I decided to try it with ground pork for a quicker, weeknight meal and was very pleased with the results. In just 30 minutes, the dish was done and the flavors just as complex as I hoped.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 tablespoons shallots, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
2 tablespoons fermented black beans, rinsed and chopped
1 pound ground pork (see note below)
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 tablespoons toasted rice flour (or cornstarch)
1 cup steeped Lapsang souchong tea
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon peanut butter
8 ounces noodles
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Green onions for garnish

Directions

Note: If your pork is very fatty, you may wish to brown it first, drain it, and then sauté your shallots etc. Mine was fairly lean, so I browned the pork with the aromatics.
Heat peanut oil and cook shallots, garlic, ginger, and black beans for about 5 minutes until very fragrant. Stir in pork and cook until no longer pink. Add sherry and cook until no liquid is left in the pan. Add rice flour and stir, cooking a few more minutes.
Mix tea, syrup, and soy and add to pan, stirring to mix. Simmer about 5 minutes then add peanut butter and cook until thickened. If too thick, you may thin a bit with just a bit of water.
Cook noodles according to the package directions, drain, and toss with sesame oil. Stir in pork mixture and garnish with green onions. Serve with something green like bok choy, spinach, or broccoli.

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smoked tea black bean noodles with pork