If you enjoyed yesterday’s posting, exalting the use of black olives in a wonderful dish of wok-charred long beans, then no doubt you’ll enjoy this next Chinese stiry-fry dish that uses fresh corn kernels.

Nope, not the canned baby corn we’re all too familiar with in Chinese dishes, but actual scraped-from-the-cob kernels bursting with sweet milkiness. “Miao Pork with Corn and Chiles” is a dish from the semitropical region of Guizhou in China. And it’s from the gorgeous book, “Beyond the Great Wall” (Artisan) by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, husband-and-wife writers, photographers, cooks, and global travelers. Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai usually get all the attention. But Alford and Duguid lead you to the even more interesting, off-the-beaten-path areas of Tibet, the Silk Road, and Inner Mongolia.

There’s no better time to make this dish than now, when fresh summer corn is in abundance. I’ve made only a couple changes to the recipe. I used jalapeno peppers rather than cayenne ones because I happened to already have them on hand. I also upped the quantity of Sichuan pepper to 1/2 teaspoon, just because I love its aromatic tingle. And because I thought the dish needed a little something to tie all the flavors together, I drizzled on a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil right at the end. You could also toss in a few slivers of green onion, too, if you like.

Miao Pork With Corn And Chiles

(serves 4 as part of a family-style meal with rice)

1/3 pound pork loin

3 or 4 large ears of corn (to yield 3 cups kernels)

1 tablespoon lard or peanut oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/4 ro 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground Sichuan pepper

2 red cayenne chiles, thinly sliced (or use jalapenos)

1 teaspoon salt

Toasted Asian sesame oil (optional)

Green onion slivers (optional)

Thinly slice the pork, then cut into small slices, about 1/2-inch by 1 inch. Set aside. Cut kernels from corncobs; one at a time, stand each cob on a cutting board and use a cleaver or chef’s knife to slice the kernels off the cob; set aside.

Place a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add lard or oil, and when it is hot, toss in garlic. Stir-fry for a moment, then add pork and Sichuan papper. Stir-fry for several minutes, then add chiles and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and stir-fry until pork has changed color all over, another minute or so. Add corn and stir-fry for about a minute, then add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir-fry until corn is cooked through and tender, another 3 to 4 minutes. Drizzle on a little toasted sesame oil, if using; and add green onions, if using.

Turn out and serve hot or at room temperature with rice.

Adapted from “Beyond the Great Wall.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 5:02 am and is filed under Asian recipes, General, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.