Apart from dumplings and buns, people rarely seem to know about most of the ways us Chinese love stuffed foods. Tiger skin peppers are a big example of this. The combination of sweet peppers and the savouriness of the stuffing makes them a culinary experience that fits as a perfect side dish.
Peppers are a good source of Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin B6 and Folate. Besides making them into a salad, grilling them and roasting them, there are many other ways to cook peppers.
In this article, we are sharing with you one of our favorite dishes, also one of my mom’s special: Sweet and Sour Sauteed Pepper, also widely known as Tiger Skin Pepper (虎皮尖椒 hǔ pí jiān jiāo). This dish originated from Sichuan, China, the pan-fried pepper skin reminds people of tiger skin, hence the name and people usually make it with spicy green pointy peppers. It can be served with flatbread (饼 bǐng), Chinese bun (馒头 mán tóu), or rice (米饭 mǐ fàn).
In this article, I chose to use sweet-colored peppers from our local shop instead of the usual spicy green ones, because my husband and my daughter are not quite the spicy types. Also it is hard to find the right kind of spicy green peppers locally. But you are very welcome to replace them with the pointy green spicy peppers. I have also used minced pork to stuff my peppers which are also optional if you are vegetarian or not a fan of pork 🙂
Tiger Skin Peppers Stuffed Recipe
Course: Pork2
servings15
minutes30
minutesThis recipe will show you how to make stuffed tiger skin peppers, an underrated authentic Chinese side dish that looks and tastes impressive.
Ingredients
Baby sweet peppers 300g
Minced pork 250g
Garlic 2 cloves
Ginger 2g
Chinese cooking wine ¼ tsp
Light soy sauce 2 tbsp
Chinese dark vinegar 2 tbsp
Oyster sauce 1 tbsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Water 2 tbsp
Directions
- Finely chop garlic and ginger.
- Take half of the chopped garlic & ginger with ¼ tsp Chinese cooking wine, mix with 250g minced pork, and set it aside.
- Wash the peppers, and remove the top part as well as the seeds inside. (If you are using those spicy green peppers, remember not to rub your eyes until your hands are thoroughly washed, I learned it the hard way…
- Stuff your minced pork inside the peppers, I simply used a butter knife to finish the job.
- Prepare the sweet and sour sauce. Add 2 tbsp of light soy sauce, 2 tbsp of Chinese dark vinegar, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of sugar and 2 tbsp of water. Mix well and set it aside.
- Heat up a frying pan, add a little bit of oil and wait for it to heat up.
- Turn the heat to medium-low, gently place your stuffed peppers in the pan and let them fry.
- I left mine for about 5 mins and turned them over to fry the other sides.
- Repeat this step until the skin of your peppers is nicely seared with an evenly “tiger skin” look. By the end of it, your peppers should be soft and the meat inside is thoroughly cooked.
- Take the peppers out, turn the heat up to full power and add the rest of the garlic and ginger mix, cook for 15 secs.
- Add the peppers back in, and pour in the mixed sweet and sour sauce, let it cook for a further 30 secs.
- Plate, and serve, enjoy (请慢用 qǐng màn yòng) !
Try It Yourself
And there you have it! This is how you can make a delicious batch of tiger skin pork stuffed peppers! Give our recipe a try and let us know how it turns out by tagging us on Instagram.
