Sacha Sauce Pork
Have you tried sacha sauce (沙茶醬; aka satay sauce or Chinese barbecue sauce) before? It is a savoury sauce made from brill fish, dried shrimp and a mix of spices. I’ve been using sacha sauce mainly for hot pot dips, but I discovered recently that it is great in stir fries too. This sacha sauce pork (沙茶猪肉) is a quick stir-fry and so good with rice.
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To me, any homely stir-fry will be given an instant boost of savoury deliciousness when you add sacha sauce to it. If you don’t eat pork, try this recipe with chicken or beef slices, they will taste great too.
Bell peppers and snow peas add colour and fiber to complement the sacha sauce pork.
Sacha sauce is really popular in Taiwan which was where I first learnt about it. It is present in the condiment station of every hotpot restaurant in Taipei, and almost every 7-11 outlet in Taipei city sells bottled sacha sauce too. Pictured above is the most popular brand (Bull Head) of sacha sauce in Taiwan. I always buy a few bottles back home when holidaying in Taipei. There is also a mala version which is even nicer if you love spicy food. In Singapore, I think one can find it at Yue Hwa or Kwong Cheong Thye. Otherwise, you can get other brands such as Lee Kum Kee at the local supermarkets.
Sacha Pork Stir-fry
The recommended pork cuts to use are shoulder butt (which is used in this recipe), pork belly or pork loin (腰肉).
Use original or spicy mala sacha sauce according to preference.
Ingredients:
- 150g pork fillet sliced thinly against the grain
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 chilli padi partially de-seeded & sliced thinly; to taste*
- 15 snow peas pull & discard the “strings”
- 1/4 bell pepper sliced to long sticks
* skip this if you are using spicy “mala” sacha sauce
(A) Marinade
- 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tbsp cornflour
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
(B) Sauce (stir to mix)
- 1 level tbsp sacha sauce (沙茶醬)
- 1 tbsp Chinese wine
Directions:
- Marinade pork in (A), for at least half an hour, or overnight in fridge.
- Cook snow peas in boiling water for 2 minutes. Rinse under cold water, drain & set aside.
- Stir-fry the pork. Heat oil in wok. Stir fry garlic & chilli briefly until aromatic. Add pork slices and stir-fry until entirely cooked on surface (turns fully opaque). Add sauce (B) and cut peppers. Stir fry on high heat for another minute. Turn off the heat, stir in the cooked snow peas to coat evenly in the sauce and serve.