Helen I am making your Kung Pao Chicken tonight & it has black vinegar in it which I have bought. I have not used this vinegar before are their other ways I can use it.? Thanks

Hi Lyn, black vinegar is great as dipping sauce for spring rolls, dumplings etc...
I use equal parts of black vinegar and soy sauce and then a little sesame oil.
Eg 2 tbsp black vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1-2 teaspoons sesame oil. You can also add a little chopped chilli as well if you want heat.
It has a great flavour.

Here's another all purpose dressing using black vinegar. The vinegar is very powerful, so don't overdo it.

Smacked Cucumber with Garlic Sauce (Dunlop)

1 med cucumber (300g)
½ tsp salt
1 tab finely chopped garlic
½ tsp sugar
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 - 1 tsp Chinkiang black vinegar
2 tab mild chilli oil
2 pinches roasted ground Sichuan pepper

Lay the cucumber on a chopping board and smack it hard a few times with a cleaver or a rolling pin (but don’t pulverise). Cut lengthwise into four pieces the cut at an angle into 1 cm slices. Place in a bowl with the salt, mix well and set aside 10 min.

To make sauce combine all other ingredients in a small bowl.

Drain cucumber, add sauce and combine well. Serve immediately.

Or use sauce to dress broad beans, thinly sliced cooked pork with carrot sliver, other veges.

Bok Choy with Black Vinegar

Serves 6

3 tab oil
½ tab slivered ginger
1 kg bok choy, sliced 4cm
1 ½ tab black vinegar
1 ½ tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tab Shaoxing wine
1 tab water
1 tab slivered Chinese ham or lap cheung

Mix vinegar, sugar, salt and wine. Heat oil and stir-fry bok choy and ginger. When wilted add mixture and stir-fry until evaporated. Add ham/sausage and stir-fry 1 min.

Sweet Pork Belly with Black Vinegar


(to serve 3 - 4 with plain steamed bok choy/tatsoi/broccoli and steamed rice)

1 kg piece of pork belly with skin, preferably boneless
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp Shaoxing wine
4 tsp light soy sauce
5 tab peanut oil
2/3 c soft brown sugar
8 tab Chinkiang vinegar (black vinegar)
8 spring onions
big bunch coriander

Mix together the salt, caster sugar, Shaoxing, soy sauce and 1 tab of the oil.   Slice the pork belly in 3cm slices and marinate in the mixture at least 2 hours or overnight.

Remove pork from marinade and pat dry with paper towels.

In a lidded wok, large sauté pan or saucepan heat the rest of the oil over a high heat.   Fry the pork in batches to brown well on all sides.   Be careful as the skin might spit.   Return pork to pan, lower heat, add sugar, vinegar and 750 ml water.  Bring to the boil, cover and simmer 1 1/2 - 2 hours until the pork is tender and the skin soft.   Check liquid level occasionally but there should be plenty.

When the pork is tender remove to a warm serving dish, cover and keep warm in a low oven.   Pour the liquid into a jug and leave for 10 min for fat to rise.   Remove fat, return liquid to pan and boil hard to reduce to about 1 1/2c of syrupy sauce.

Slice spring onions thinly and chop coriander roughly.

Pour sauce over pork,  pile spring onions and coriander on top to serve.

Ooh thanks for those wonderful recipes they would go down great here , I have a cucumber in my fridge too. Thank you.

The bottle I currently have is Hengshung and on the bottle it says good for dumplings. I can use that straight without adding anything else.
I like robust flavours and find that it is good as it is or mixed with soy and sesame as above.
There will variances in quality and style as there is with all vinegars.
Lyn I suggest tasting yours and seeing what you think of it.

For some reason in this thread, the advertisements that are usually down the right-hand side of the foodlovers page are showing within people's posts, between paragraphs.

Oh, that's strange, after I posted this message, it has fixed itself......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2019 05:30AM by J1.

I'm still seeing advertisements in the body of messages. There is one for bunions!

I am also getting them,I thought it was something I had done.Good to know it's not only me but they are a nuisance.

I am getting adds too, I bought my vinegar from an Asian shop, it tastes nice but can’t put a name to what I think it is like.

The ads are really awful. I'm getting a vile picture of maggots now, ghastly. I've seen it before but not as inescapably.

No problems here.
D.

All good here as well. Am on Firefox if you want to compare servers

No problems here; I'm using Google Chrome.

Oops the ad setting has obviously gone a bit weird.
Sorry, I will get Ian onto it.