Lao Gan Jie Stir-Fried Shredded Pork with Chili Oil

Dry the chili peppers and cut them into sections, then add some Sichuan peppercorns.

Black sesame and white sesame in appropriate amounts, you can use more or less.

Cut the lean meat into shreds or small cubes. If you like meat, you can cut it into slightly larger pieces.

Chop a packet of fermented black beans.

Put the dried chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns into the pan and stir-fry over low heat until they change color.

Scoop out and let cool.

Add the sesame seeds to the pan and toast them over low heat until fragrant.

Scoop out and let cool.

Grind the fried chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns using a blender. If you don’t like it too spicy, you can remove the chili seeds and use only the chili skins.

Roasted sesame seeds are also ground with a blender. They don't need to be ground very finely.

Ground chili and sesame powder.

Prepare a bottle of semi-sweet flour sauce. I happened to have a bottle of pork sauce I brought back from traveling, and I used it as a substitute for the sweet flour sauce.

Add more oil to the pot, enough to roughly cover the amount of pork.

Add the shredded pork to the pan and sauté over medium-low heat.

Stir with a spatula to prevent burning at the bottom.

Cook until the pork becomes dry. At this point, if you feel there is too much oil, you can pour out some, but don’t leave too little either, as chili and sesame powder will be added later, which will absorb oil.

Add sweet bean sauce and stir-fry evenly.

Add fermented black beans, cumin powder, Chinese five-spice powder, and sugar, and stir-fry evenly.

Add sesame powder and chili powder, and stir-fry evenly.

Turn off the heat and let it cool.