Taiwanese meat sauce

INGREDIENTS for 4-6 large servings

Meat department

• Ground pork - 2 lbs

Produce department

• Ginger, 1/4" thick slices - 5

• Garlic, minced - 2 tbsp (or 6-8 cloves, crushed)

• (Optional) Shitake mushroom - 8oz, diced 1/2"

• (Optional) Cilantro for garnish and extra oomph

Spice rack & Baking aisle

• Sugar - 1 tbsp (rock sugar is better but white sugar is just fine)

• White pepper powder - 1 tsp

• Five spice powder - 1 tsp

• (Optional) Red pepper, dried x 2

International aisle

• Soy sauce - 1/2 cup

Specialty items

• Fried shallots - 1-1/2 cup

• Michiu (Taiwanese "Honbiou" cooking rice wine) - 3 tbsp

DIRECTIONS

1. (Optional) If some spiciness is preferred - In a sauté pan, heat a little olive oil (1-2 tsp) over medium heat and fry the dry red pepper until fragrant.

2. In the same sauté pan, add ground pork (2 lbs). Change heat to high. Stir and break up the meat to small pieces. Cook until done.

3. Stir in fried shallots (1-1/2 cup) and mix well with the meat.

4. Create a little empty spot in the pan or use the sides of the pan to cook the ginger slices (5) until the edge browns.

5. Stir in minced garlic (2 tbsp) or crushed garlic (6-8) and (optional) shitake mushroom. Cook for 1 min and change the heat to medium.

6. Add sugar (1 tbsp) and mix well. Continue to stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.

7. Change the heat back to high. Stir in white pepper powder (1 tsp) and five spice powder (1 tsp), soy sauce (1/2 cup) and michiu (3 tbsp). Once the sauce begins to boil, change the heat down to low and let the sauce simmer for 10-15 mins. If the sauce is too dry, add a little water or chicken stock to prevent the sauce from drying out or burning.

8. Serve meat sauce over rice or noodles and garnish with cilantro if preferred.

NOTES

• This is a "quick n easy" version of the traditional Taiwanese meat sauce ("rou zow" or "lu rou"). The original version uses diced pork belly, which gives the sauce a richer flavor and texture, but much more labor intensive and fattier :P