Details
Ajinomoto's Cook Do is Japan's leading range of pre-blended Chinese stir-fry sauces, designed to bring restaurant-style flavour to a home wok in under 20 minutes. The Twice-Cooked Pork (Hoikoro) variety is one of the most popular in the range — a complex, savoury sauce built around touchi (fermented black beans), tianmianjiang (sweet bean paste), and doubanjiang (chilli bean paste), balanced with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and a touch of rice wine (laojiu) for depth and fragrance. The result is a sauce that tastes roasted and deeply savoury, with a warm heat and the rounded, slightly fermented character that makes a proper hoikoro distinctive. To prepare: stir-fry sliced cabbage and green pepper, set aside, cook thinly sliced pork belly and spring onion, add the sauce and toss, then return the vegetables to the pan and combine. The whole dish comes together in around 20 minutes and serves two. A practical and genuinely flavourful shortcut for a Chinese home-cooking classic.
