If you asked me to pick a dish that represents Beijing cuisine, Jing Jiang Rou Si and Zha Jiang Mian (Beijing fried sauce noodle) would come to mind immediately. Both dishes use very affordable and down-to-earth ingredients to make a satisfying and filling meal. Both are quite easy to put together and are very suitable for a weekday dinner.
What is Jing Jiang Rou Si
Jing Jiang Rou Si (京酱肉丝), which directly translates to Peking sauce shredded pork, is a signature dish from Beijing that I ate growing up. It’s a popular dish in restaurants and you see quite a few different ways to serve it, depending on the chef. The main star of the dish is the thinly sliced pork cooked in a thick sauce that is super rich, savory and sweet. The pork is very tender and juicy. In a nicer restaurant, it is often served with sliced Chinese scallions and tofu sheets on the side. You can roll the pork and a piece of scallion in a tofu sheet to make a small “burrito” as you eat. At a hole-in-the-wall diner or school cafeteria, the pork would simply be served over a bed of steamed rice.
Ingredients for Jing Jiang Rou Si
Sweet Bean Paste
Sweet bean paste (甜面酱), sometimes called sweet bean sauce or sweet flour sauce, is the main ingredient in the Jing Jiang Rou Si sauce. The sauce is made primarily from fermented flour, fermented soy sauce, sugar and salt. It is a thick, opaque, reddish dark brown sauce that tastes salty, slightly sweet, and has a savory umami that is similar to that of fermented soybeans. Sweet bean paste is also the main ingredient in Peking duck sauce. It is sometimes labeled as “hoisin sauce” at Chinese restaurants in the US, because hoisin sauce sounds more familiar. Sweet bean sauce tastes much better due to the depth of flavor, since it goes through a fermentation process which hoisin sauce lacks.
Tofu sheet
Tofu sheet (豆腐皮), sometimes called soy sheet, is a type of tofu product made from soybeans and water. Due to the different manufacturing process, tofu sheets have a much tougher texture and are thinner than firm tofu, and they can hold their shape pretty well without falling apart. When serving Jiang Jiang Rou Si, you can use tofu sheets to wrap up the pork to make small “burritos”. It’s a nice way to add more texture and make the meal more filling. You can find tofu sheets at many Asian grocery stores, usually in the refrigerated section, and sometimes in the freezer section. This is one potential serving option for Jing Jiang Rou Si, and you don’t have to use this ingredient if it’s hard to find.
Chinese scallion
Chinese scallion (大葱), is called big scallion in China. Compared with the green onions often seen in US grocery stores, Chinese scallions are much bigger in size (similar to leeks). Their texture is tougher and the flavor more pungent. Jiang Jiang Rou Si is traditionally served with Chinese scallions, whose sharp spiciness cuts through the rich flavor of the pork. It is totally fine to use regular scallions to replace Chinese scallions.
Which cut of pork to use
You can either use pork tenderloin or pork loin to cook Jing Jiang Rou Si. However I highly recommend tenderloin because of its tender texture. To cut the pork: Cutting the pork might be the most time consuming part of the dish. My favorite way is to thaw the frozen pork overnight in the fridge, so it’s still quite frozen the next day, but possible to cut through with a knife. It is much easier to cut when the pork is half frozen.
Mise en place
When you’re ready to cook, your table should have: This recipe uses ginger in the marinade to tenderize the meat. And the egg white helps keep the pork juicy and tender during cooking.
Jing Jiang Rou Si cooking process
Cooking Jiang Jiang Rou Si couldn’t be easier. The only thing you should be careful of is not to overcook the pork.
A nonstick pan works better
Because the thinly sliced pork is quite tender and delicate, it is much easier to use a nonstick pan to help the pork stay in one piece. Chinese restaurants use a carbon steel wok with a large amount of to flash fry the pork. It is not very suitable for home cooking so I opt to pan fry instead.
How to serve Jing Jiang Rou Si
There are many ways to serve Jiang Jiang Rou Si and all of them are delicious. Frankly, this is the easiest way to serve the dish. The savory rich sauce goes very well with rice. And you can easily put the rice together while preparing the pork. No special ingredients needed. You can use duck pancakes (also called mandarin pancakes and moo shu pancakes) to wrap up the pork and scallions to make a burrito. I consider this to be a cheaper (and easier) version of Peking duck. Because the sauce is very similar to Peking duck sauce, with the tender pork and spicy scallion, the flavor is quite close to the experience of a Peking duck wrap. In China, restaurants usually serve Jing Jiang Rou Si with sliced tofu sheets cut to the size of wonton wrappers. To eat, add a few slices of the pork and scallion onto the tofu sheet to make a “taco”. The tofu sheet adds an interesting texture and makes the dish more filling. This is a slightly unconventional way to serve Jing Jiang Rou Si, but I like it a lot. The vegetable wraps are made with:
A tofu sheet (without cutting it into small squares), topped with sliced carrot, cucumber and cilantro. Roll up the tofu sheet while tucking in the vegetablesSlice the roll diagonally Carefully plate the rolls cut-side-up
You can eat the pork together with the rolls. You can also dip the vegetable rolls in the sweet bean paste. It is very delicious (if a bit time consuming) to make! I recommend making it if you’re hosting a dinner party, because the presentation is quite stunning.
Afterthoughts
Jing Jiang Rou Si is a very popular dish where I grew up, but is less known outside of China. It’s a dish I have been meaning to share for several years, but hesitated as I was worried that people wouldn’t want to cook it. If you’ve never heard of the dish before but enjoy a rich tasting stir fry, I hope you give it a try!
Other delicious northern Chinese dishes
Chinese Corn Soup with Chicken (鸡蛋玉米羹)Tomato And Egg Stir Fry (西红柿炒鸡蛋)Chinese Pumpkin Cake (南瓜饼)Century Egg Congee with Chicken (皮蛋瘦肉粥)Easy Tofu and Celery Salad
