Ching-He Huang served up a tasty Yunnan-style grilled sea bass with twice-cooked pork, mushroom pickle, salsa verde and rice on Saturday Kitchen.

The ingredients for the fungus pickle are: 6 baby cucumbers, washed, sliced on the diagonal on one side (not all the way through), then the other to make a ‘slinky’, 40g dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, 3 large garlic cloves, grated, 1–inch piece fresh root ginger, grated, 2 red chillies, seeds removed and chopped, 2 spring onions, finely chopped, For the fungus pickle dressing, 2 tbsp rapeseed oil, 4 tbsp light soy sauce, 3 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp roasted unsalted peanut butter, 1 tsp caster sugar and 2 tsp crispy chilli oil.

For the pork (hui guo rou): 480g pork belly slices, skin on ideally, 2 tbsp rapeseed oil, 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine, 1 tbsp chilli bean sauce, 1 tbsp yellow bean sauce or brown miso paste, 1 tbsp garlic black bean sauce or crushed fermented black beans rinsed in water, 3 large spring onions or Chinese leeks, sliced on the diagonal, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, pinch caster sugar and 25ml orange gin.

For the sea bass spice mix: 1 dried Sichuan chilli, 1 tbsp fennel seeds, 3 star anise, 1 tbsp Yunnan peppercorns or Sichuan peppercorns and 1 tso sea salt.

For the sea bass: 1 x 500g whole sea bass, cleaned, head on, 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine and 25ml orange gin.

For the salsa verde: 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped, 2–inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped, 8 small red chillies, finely sliced, 4 spring onions, topped, tailed and sliced to 1cm rings, 4 small handfuls Vietnamese mint, sliced, ½ bunch fresh coriander, stems and leaves sliced into 0.3cm pieces, 5–6 tbsp rapeseed oil, ½ tsp sea salt, 4 tbsp light soy sauce and 2 limes, juice only.

To serve: plain rice, edible flowers, 8 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 4 tsp fish sauce and banana leaves.

See recipes by Ching in her book titled: Wok for Less – Budget-Friendly Asian Meals in 30 Minutes or Less available from Amazon now.