Oriental Style Pork and Potato Stew

I was brainstorming the other day (this happened two months ago, this is a stale post hah..hah..) to decide what to cook for a Sunday dinner. And that was a Tuesday, mind you. I like to plan ahead. I have to have a schedule and I like my household run in military precision. Call me mad, but that's how I roll.

As usual before I started my daily grind , I checked my blog reading list. I chanced upon Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House's Chicken and Potato Stew. It looked like a very substantial and delicious dish. I scanned through the ingredients and I had everything except for the chicken. But I had some pork shoulder loin in the freezer. That was it! My Sunday dinner conundrum solved.

I have changed the cooking method slightly as I did not parboil the potatoes. That was just me being lazy and I added the potatoes about half hour after simmering the meat and other ingredients.

The aroma from this stew is really fantastic. I do not fancy red dates but it did bring something special to this stew. I omitted sugar from the recipe as I reckon the red dates would add sweetness because I doubled the amount used. 

My partner was very impressed with this stew, describing it as "powerful". I had to agree because it tasted really good. Imagine the fragrance of sesame oil, shiao xing wine, garlic and red dates. So very appetizing! Do hop over to Tze's blog for her original recipe. Thank you Tze for this fantastic stew!

Oriental Style Pork and Potato Stew
Recipe source : Adapted from Awayofmind Bakery House

Ingredients: 
- 500g pork shoulder loin, cut into bite sizes
- 4 potatoes, each cut into half
- a small handful of black fungus, soaked in water until soft (I used the small variety)
- 8 shitake mushroom, soaked
- 10 red dates
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 slices ginger
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp cooking oil
- 100 ml shao xing cooking wine
- 400 ml water

Method:

1. Heat the frying pan and add 3 tbsp cooking oil.

2. Add sliced ginger and fry until lightly browned.

3.  Add minced garlic and fry over low heat until fragrant. 

4. Add pork and fry over high heat.

5. When the meat changes colour add mushrooms, red dates, black fungus and stir fry for a minute.

6. Add water, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and cooking wine. Bring to a boil and simmer covered for about 30 minutes.

7. Add potatoes and continue to simmer until meat is tender and potatoes are cooked.
8. Adjust seasoning and serve hot. Enjoy!