The big "stir fry" you've always wanted.

Dry pot - Gan guo!

0:00 - The problem with large stir fries & the western workaround
1:26 - Dry pots, the vehicle for Gan Xiang (not wok hei)
3:25 - Making the base, Sichuan Ganguo
6:12 - Making the pot, Sichuan Ganguo
9:56 - Making the base, Western supermarket Ganguo
11:24 - Making the pot, Western supermarket Ganguo
13:54 - Other Dry Pot flavor profiles?

SICHUAN XIANGLA DRY POT

Base:

This base will yield enough for two dry pots. Scale up or down accordingly!

Oil, preferably caiziyou 菜籽油, 1/2 cup
Aromatics: onion, 1/4, sliced; garlic, 4 cloves, smashed; ginger, ~1 inch, smashed; cilantro, ~2 sprigs
Spices: cinnamon stick, 1/2; star anise (八角), 2; fennel seed (小茴香), 1/2 tsp; Sichuan peppercorns (花椒), 1/2 tbsp
Lao Gan Ma 'pickled' chilis (风味糟辣剁椒), or Hunan 'chopped' chilis (剁椒), 4 tbsp, minced then drained; or ciba chilis (reconstituted then pounded dried chilis)
Lard or tallow or any other oil, 2 tbsp
Chili bean paste (郫县豆瓣酱), 1.5 tbsp, minced
Lao Gan Ma black bean chili (老干妈豆豉风味), 1 tbsp, roughly chopped
Red, fragrant chili powder, e.g. kashmiri or gochugaru or 陕西秦椒, 1 tbsp
Spicy chili powder, e.g. cayenne pepper or 辣椒面, 1 tsp
Oyster sauce (蚝油), 1/2 tbsp
Seasoning: Sichuan pepper powder (花椒面), 1/2 tsp; sugar, 1 tsp; MSG (味精), 1/2 tsp; 13 spice (十三香) or 5 spice powder, 1 tsp

Over a medium flame, fry the aromatics in the oil for about three minutes, then add in the spices. Continue to fry until the onions are golden brown, then strain. Add the oil back to the pot.

Add the minced chilis back to the wok and swap the flame to low/medium-low. Slowly fry until much of the moisture has bubbled away, ~8 minutes. Add the chili bean paste and the Lao Gan Ma back bean chili. Fry for ~2 minutes until the oil is good and stained. Add the chili powders and give it a quick fry. Add the oyster sauce, and optionally the leftover drained liquid from the minced chilis. Quick mix, seasoning in, another quick mix. Reserve.

Sichuan Dry Pot:

The components are ultimately up to you. The rule of thumb here is: 1kg of ingredients = 6 tbsp of base. We used:

Lotus root (莲藕), 350g, peeled and sliced
Tofu puffs (油豆腐), 75g, sliced in half
Sataw beans – we only used these to illustrate to use what you wanted, but… 100g
Napa cabbage (娃娃菜), 120g
Boiled quail eggs (鹌鹑蛋), 250g
Pork belly (五花肉), 300g
Marinade for the pork belly: salt, ½ tsp; white pepper powder (白胡椒粉), ¼ tsp; soy sauce (生抽), ½ tsp; liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), ½ tsp; oil to coat, ~1 tsp

Blanch the lotus root for ~3 minutes; the tofu puffs, ~3 minutes; napa cabbage, ~1 minute. Once cool to the touch, squeeze the liquid out of the tofu puffs and the napa.

Slice the pork belly into ~3mm slices and marinate. We also separated the fatty parts of the pork belly and rendered those til crisp, but that was because we had a fatty pork belly.

Then, to make the pot:

Oil to fry, ~2 tbsp (we used the rendered lard from the belly)
Aromatics: garlic, 4 cloves, smashed; ginger (姜), ½ inch, smashed
Sichuan peppercorns (花椒), 1 tsp
Hot, spicy dried chilis, e.g. Thai birds eye, 4, cut into sections
Sichuan dry pot base from above, 6 tbsp
Baijiu (白酒) or Liaojiu/Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), ~1 tbsp
Seasoning: salt, ¼ tsp; MSG (味精), ¼ tsp
Toasted sesame seeds (熟芝麻), 1 tbsp
Onion, ~1/2, cut into chunks
Cilantro and Chinese celery (芹菜), ~1 sprig each chopped into ~1 inch sections

On a separate burner, heat up your dry pot over a low flame.

To your wok, over a high flame fry the pork belly until it’s done and lightly golden, ~2 minutes. Scooch up the side of the wok. Add the aromatics, fry til fragrant, ~30 seconds. Add the chilis & Sichuan peppercorns, fry til fragrant, ~30 seconds. Add in the dry pot base. Fry for ~30 seconds, then swirl in the alcohol. Quick mix.

Add in all of your pre-cooked components, mix well. Add in the seasoning and the toasted sesame seeds, mix, heat off. Add the onion, cilantro, and celery.

Your dry pot should be something like ~160C at this point. Layer everything on.

WESTERN SUPERMARKET DRY POT

Base:

This base will yield enough for one dry pot. Scale up or down accordingly!

Peanut oil, ~2 tbsp
Garlic, ~4 cloves, minced
Unsweetened peanut butter, ~1/2 tbsp
Hoisin sauce (海鲜酱), 2.5 tbsp
Sriracha, 2 tbsp
Soy sauce (生抽), 1 tbsp
Seasoning: 5 spice powder, 1 tsp; salt, ½ tsp; sugar, ½ tsp; chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), ½ tsp; white pepper powder, 1 tsp

Over a medium flame, quickly fry the garlic in the oil until fragrant, ~30 seconds. Add the peanut butter and mix. Fry until foamy and slightly darkened, ~6-7 minutes. Add the hoisin, quick mix to combine. Add the Sriracha, quick mix to combine. Add the soy sauce, cook for 1-2 minutes to expel some moisture. Add in the seasoning, quick fry.

For the ingredients/process for the western supermarket pot, refer to 11:24 because I’m running out of space here.