Mala Dry Pot With Shrimp, Tofu and Pork Belly (Ganguo 干锅/Mala Xiangguo 麻辣香锅)
Just like hot pot, dry pot is more a method than a recipe; feel free to vary the ingredients at will. Just make sure all the ingredients are thinly sliced and/or bite-sized. If you use The Mala Market's Sichuan Mala Sauce for Stir-Fry and Dry Pot, we recommend 3 tablespoons of sauce per pound of ingredients. This recipe for 3 pounds of ingredients uses 9 tablespoons, or half the jar. Use less if you like it less spicy. If using another dry pot sauce, check package for amount it makes.
Servings: 4 servings (or more if served with side dishes)
The Mala Market
Ingredients
24 ounces of proteins
- 10 ounces tail-on shrimp
- 8 ounces pork belly, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 6 ounces fried tofu cubes
24 ounces of vegetables
- cauliflower, broken into small florets preferably Chinese, or flowering, cauliflower
- baby yu choy or other greens, cut in large pieces
- green beans, trimmed and cut in pieces
- Yukon gold potatoes, cut in thin half-moon slices or ½-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons dried wood ear mushrooms covered with boiling water and soaked for ½ hour
For final stir-fry
- ¼ cup roasted rapeseed oil (Sichuan caiziyou) or sub with neutral cooking oil
- 4 or 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 inch ginger, cut into thin slivers
- 4 or 5 dried er jing tiao chilies, torn into large pieces optional
- ½ to 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn optional
- ½ teaspoon cumin seed optional
- 9 tablespoons Sichuan Mala Sauce for Stir-Fry or Dry Pot (half a jar) or to taste
- sesame seeds
Instructions
- If your shrimp is wet, pat it dry with paper towels. Add the sliced pork belly to a bowl with the Shaoxing wine and soy sauce and let it marinate while you prepare other ingredients.
- Cut and prep the vegetables as instructed in ingredient list. For the vegetables, you can either use a scale to weigh out 24 ounces, or you can wing it. While this recipe is written for 48 ounces of ingredients total, it's also fine to just use as much sauce as you need to cover your ingredients as you do the final stir-fry. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and add the vegetables in order of how long they take to cook. Start with green beans and potato and cook 1 minute. Add the cauliflower and soaked wood ear and cook 1 additional minute, then add the yuchoy and cook about 30 seconds more or until mostly done. The goal is vegetables that are about 75% cooked, as they will continue to cook off the heat and in the final stir-fry. Drain the vegetables, then add to a bowl of ice water to cool. Drain again and hold.
- Heat wok and add a small amount of oil. Add shrimp to the wok and cook briefly on one side, then flip and cook briefly on the other side, until the shrimp have just turned pink but are not fully cooked. Remove and hold.
- Clean wok and return to medium heat. Add pork belly slices and stir-fry until the fat has started to cook off and the pork is cooked through. Remove and hold.
- Clean wok if it's messy. Add ¼ cup oil and bring to medium-low heat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry briefly. Add the optional spices: er jing tiao chilies, Sichuan peppercorns and cumin seed, and stir-fry until fragrant. Do not burn the chilies or spices. Add the fried tofu to the wok and stir-fry briefly, until slightly softened.
- Add the dry pot sauce to the wok and mix with the aromatics. Add the pre-cooked proteins and vegetables to the wok and mix everything together until the ingredients are fully warmed and fully covered with sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve in your wok (if it is the kind with two ear handles) or in a wide, shallow bowl.