芽菇焖猪肉

Slice some 500g pork, marinate with thick soy sauce for about 10 – 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, de-skin some 10 arrowheads, sliced to some 5mm thick. Cut some 5 – 9 garlic, and 5 – 10 shitake mushrooms.

Fry the garlic over hot pan with little bit of vegetable oil. Add in the pork, mushrooms and arrowhead, sauté for a while. The mixture need to be stirred often to promote even browning. While stirring, sprinkle a pinch-full of sugar over the ingredient. The sugar will caramelized to produce a nutty caramel flavor. Then, add in water to cover the ingredients, allow to boil.

Argh…. ! before I forget, sprinkle some pepper powder. No salt is required as soy sauce itself is salty .

Simmer until the liquid half-dry. Watch out for the fire, though. Keep the flame to the minimum.

CNY : Arrowhead 芽菇

Arrowhead, also known as cígū (慈菇, literally mean "benevolent mushroom") or yagū ( 芽菇 ). It is also known as many names : 燕尾草、白地栗. It is a member of genus Sagittaria ( 慈姑屬 ) of Alismataceae ( 澤瀉科 ), the water-plantain family.

A polymorphic species, the sub-species S. sagittifolia leucopetala is extensively cultivated for its edible bulb in China.

The round tuber is edible. It tastes bland, with a starchy texture, similar to a potato but somewhat crunchier, even when cooked.

Tubers can also be dried and ground into powder for use as a gruel or added to cereal flours and used in making bread, biscuit or cake.

Its best cook with pork with soy sauce. Just slice the arrowhead to 5mm thick and shimmer it with pork pre-marinated with soy sauce.

Equally delicious is arrowhead chips. Sliced it into thin slices, and deep fried it until it is crunchy. The taste is fabulous, far more better than potato chips !