Hot and Peppery White Pork

1) Put pork in a small pot, add scallion white (about 1/6 of the half cup), ginger and water (enough just to keep pork submerged). Bring to a boil and skim the froth. Change to low flame and simmer for 40-50 minutes. Remove and wash pork with warm water. (The stock may be kept for other purposes.) Cut pork into slivers 2.1/2 inches long by about 1/4 inch square. Cut the remaining bulk of scallion white into fine slivers.

2) Put chilli powder in a small bowl. Mix in a little sesame oil and stir well. Heat the remaining oil in a pot till it smokes. Pour hot oil in three instalments over the chilli powder, stirring all the time with chopsticks, so that the powder is evenly heated and the oil becomes dark red chilli oil.

Roast Chinese peppercorn in a clean pan on slow fire till it smells aromatic and turns crisp. Crush fine on a workboard with a rolling pin.

3) Place pork and scallion slivers in serving dish, add salt, gourmet powder, chilli oil, peppercorn powder, mix well and it is done.

Notes:

(1) If preferred, the pork may be made more tender by prolonging the boiling time. Cutting of the meat must be done only after it has become cool, or the slivers may come apart.

(2) The dish is a mixture of delicious, salty, hot and peppery tastes. The ingredients (salt, chilli powder and peppercorn) may be varied according to individual taste.

(3) This is a cold dish meant to go with the aperitif, which the Chinese have at table at the beginning of a dinner.