Dinner · 30 min · chinese

Dry-Pot Cauliflower

This is the kind of Chinese dinner you’ll make on repeat — cauliflower and pork belly, 30 minutes, big payoff. Each serving lands at 204 calories with 7g of protein, so it eats like a much heavier meal. Leftovers keep well, so it doubles as next-day lunch without any extra work.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 1 head Cauliflower
• 4 oz Pork belly
• 1.5 tbsp Doubanjiang
• 5 Dried red chiles
• 5 cloves Garlic
• 3 Scallions
• 1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar

Steps

1. Break the cauliflower into small, flat florets — flat faces sear better than round ones. Dry-fry them in a hot wok with a little oil, undisturbed, until charred in spots, about 6 minutes. Like the green beans, cauliflower rewards aggressive heat.
2. Push aside and render the sliced pork belly until crisp at the edges. The rendered fat becomes the cooking medium for everything that follows.
3. Add the doubanjiang, chiles, and garlic and fry 1 minute until the oil turns red and the kitchen smells incredible. Then the cauliflower goes back in with a splash of water.
4. Cover 3 minutes to steam the centers tender, uncover, and toss until the water evaporates and the sauce clings. Finish with the vinegar and scallions — the vinegar lifts the richness the way a squeeze of lemon lifts anything.
5. Serve straight from the wok if you can. Dry-pot dishes are meant to arrive still sizzling.

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