Like most Jews that live in big cities, I developed an appreciation for Asian food at a young age. On our holidays we eat our food. On the Christian holidays we traditionally eat Chinese food. I’ve heard a lot of different reasons for this, I don’t know if any of them are true. But, growing up eating Chinese food on Christmas as a kid, I learned to love Asian food of all sorts, and it stood to reason that one of the first types of cooking I’d learn was stir-frying. I’ve been making stir-fry of different sorts for close to forty years. It’s one of my go-to’s for quick meals. This recipe is one I just developed, utilizing cooking principles I’ve been practicing and improving on since I was a teenager.
In this article I’m going to discuss equipment and technique as well as ingredients and process.

It’s not actually true that in order to stir-fry correctly you need a wok. But I have one that I love. I bought it over thirty years ago off on an infomercial. It’s a genuine infomercial hand hammered Chinese wok made of carbon steel. It’s followed me through several different living situations, and it’s never let me down.
Woks have several important features that make them work well. The most important is that they are round bottomed as opposed to flat, and they are not non-stick. I mention this because I know you can buy a flat bottomed non-stick wok, but I’m going to encourage you not to. Well made food in a good wok isn’t greasy, but if you use a flat bottomed wok it will be, because the food just sits in the oil all the time. If you use non-stick it slides into the oil. Also, most non-stick coatings aren’t very heat tolerant, and cooking in a wok requires very high heat. I’m going to get off this soap box from here on. But from here on I’m also going to assume you are cooking in a decent wok.
The ingredients I used for this dish are:
2 Shallots, sliced.
8 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped into chunks.
14 ounces fresh pork belly cut into roughly one inch pieces.
8 ounces fresh green beans cut into one inch pieces.
One head bok choy, rinsed and roughly chopped.
One inch of ginger root, peeled and slivered.
Good quality soy sauce (I used Kikkoman organic).
Good quality fish sauce (I only use Red Boat).
Seasoned rice wine vinegar.
1 Tb light brown sugar.
Fresh ground black pepper.
Peanut oil or some other high heat tolerant oil (grape seed also works well).
Note that where I’m not giving measures it’s because I’m not measuring. This is something I do mostly by smell, your sauce should smell rich and a touch fishy (but just a touch) with a bit of tang from the vinegar. You’ll have to experiment with proportions to taste.

First off, put your wok on the highest heat you can get out of your stove-top before you start prepping your ingredients.
Seriously.
Turn the heat on and let it sit there and get as hot as possible. If it came with a “fire ring” don’t use it unless you have to for balance. Just place it right on the burner. I lost the fire ring for my wok twenty some years ago, and have never missed it.
When you’re done prepping, add about two inches of oil to the wok. Pour it in a circle. It will start smoking, and that’s absolutely fine.

Have everything laid out within reach, this is going to go pretty fast.
Start with the pork belly. Put it in the pan (gently, don’t want the oil to splatter) and begin moving it around with your long handled spatula. Keep it moving, don’t let it sit for more than twenty seconds. Splash in some soy sauce.
Pork belly has a lot of fat, cook it all the way through and beginning to brown, and then transfer it to a bowl and drain most of the fat out of your wok. Leave about an inch of oil.

Put in your shallot and stir-fry until it starts to change color. This shouldn’t take long.
Add the green beans in with the shallot, keep it moving around briskly. Splash in some more soy sauce and a bit of fish sauce. When the green beans are bright green and beginning to brown add in the ginger and toss it for another minute.

Add in the bok choy and the garlic, and keep stir frying until the bok choy wilts. Splash in some rice vinegar. Now’s when things get interesting.
Use your spatula to pull all the food up the sides of the wok. This is where a non-stick wok makes a greasy mess. A carbon steel wok will allow the food to cling to the sides of the wok and drain the liquid into the center.

Grind in some black pepper and add your brown sugar to the liquid, and mix it in well (you could use a whisk, but don’t really need one).
Let it come to a boil and then begin to reduce. Watch it closely, and maybe keep a glass of water on hand, it can get super thick really fast. If that happens, stir in some water.
When your sauce thickens, add your cooked pork belly back in and toss everything to coat.

Serve over rice.