Szechuan Pig Cheeks

Forget sweet and sour, black bean and chow mein, the only Chinese food that i ever crave is the cuisine from the Szechuan region.

Rachel and I spent 5 days in Chengdu in 2010 and fell in love with the food, there was one street restaurant that we went back to daily having failed to find anywhere that came close for flavour and sheer addictive spiciness.

Upon arriving back in old blighty we were again craving the seriously hot, full of flavour dishes we'd tried a few months before so i trawled the internet for ideas and luckily was provided with a Szechuan cook book, Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop, for my birthday.

And so i discovered the secret - Chilli Bean Paste. My cupboard will never again be missing this vital ingredient.

There are a few ingredients that you may not have seen before but should be easy to find in your local Asian supermarket and you'll be able to pick up pig cheeks from your butchers or Waitrose.

Ingredients -

Tbsp ground nut oil

650g pig cheeks

2 tsp Szechuan Peppercorns, crushed

2 tbsp Shaoxing Wine

2 Red Pepper and 1 Yellow Pepper, sliced

4 tbsp Chilli Bean Paste

3 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

12 dried red chilis (optional)

For the Stock -

1 litre of Chicken Stock

4 Spring Onions finely chopped

4cm piece of fresh Ginger, finely grated

To serve -

Rice

Stir fried Pak Choi

3 Spring Onions, finely sliced

2 Red Chillis, finely chopped

• Halve the pig cheeks and place in a bowl with the crushed Szechuan peppercorns and a tbsp Shaoxing wine, mix together and allow to marinate for a few hours, or however long you can.
• Make a simple Asian stock by adding the finely chopped spring onions and grated ginger to chicken stock and giving a good stir.
• Heat the oil in a large pan, medium heat, and add the marinated pig cheeks to brown all over, a few minutes on either side. When done remove from the pan and set aside.
• Add the chilli bean paste to the same pan and stir fry for a few seconds to start releasing all the wonderful flavour. Add the stock, the last tbsp of Shaoxing wine and the soy sauce.
• Bring to the boil, add the pig cheeks back in and reduce the heat to simmer. 
• Preheat the oven to 150C
• Cover the pan with a lid and transfer to the oven for approximately 3 hours or until the meat is really tender. 
• Add the sliced peppers and dried chillis for the last hour of cooking time.

 Serve over rice with fresh chilli and spring onions sprinkled over the top.