Indo-Chinese Chili Chicken with Fried Rice

Indo-Chinese food is a cuisine that isn't well known in the US, but is an incredible fusion of Chinese and Indian ingredients and techniques. Many Indo-Chinese dishes are somewhere between a stir-fry and a dry curry, and tend to be spicy and fried. This chili chicken is a simple, delicious one-pan dish.

Orange Beef

One of the first Chinese dishes I ate was crispy orange beef, and I loved it. It was the perfect mix of salty, spicy, crispy, sweet, and sour. Every time I've had it since then I've been disappointed it wasn't quite as good as that first one. This was my attempt to get as close as possible to recreate that dish.

Twice Cooked Pork

Twice cooked pork is a Chinese dish where pork belly is boiled and then sliced and fried. I like the idea of it, but in restaurants it's always too chewy. Traditionally, the pork is mixed with cabbage and/or leeks, but I used green bell peppers because that's what I felt like.

Secret Ingredient: Szechwan Pepper

Szechwan pepper is a common ingredient in Chinese and other Asian dishes. It looks like peppercorns, but is from an entirely different family of plants. It isn't hot like black pepper or chilis, and instead gives a tingle like a mild electrical current, enhancing the pleasure of other flavors.

Char Siu

Char siu is the red barbecue pork you find in Chinese restaurants.  In Boston, Hong Kong eatery has good char siu (along with skin-on roast pork and roast duck), but I wanted to make some myself... so I thought of how it tasted and poked around the Internet and bought some pork.  Pork butt seems to be the recommended cut, and I found some at Market Basket.