Dice the meat. If the pork is proving difficult to cut, I recommend putting it in the freezer to harden it or cut it while it is still partially frozen.

Dice the pork into 1cm cubes.

Prepare the other ingredients.Cut the green onion lengthwise and then slice, the finer, the better. You can also use a food processor to do this step.Slice the garlic into thin strips.

Cut the ginger very finely, also the finer, the better, as it distributes more flavor.

Chop the Pixian bean paste to a minced consistency.

The bean paste and tempeh must be chopped finely so their flavor can be fully released.

Take a heavy based soup pot and warm up for 1 minute. Add 45 ml of rapeseed oil, soy paste, chopped bean paste and tempeh. Heat slowly on low for 20 minutes, until the water partly evaporates and the color deepens. When the fried sauce is very sticky and fragrant, remove it from the stove and put aside.

Preheat a separate thick based pan on medium for 1 minute (remember overheating causes sticking) and add 20 ml of rapeseed oil, the chopped green onion, garlic and ginger. Stir fry constantly, so the moisture in the ginger and garlic slowly evaporates, being careful not to burn them.

This should take about 15 minutes. I use more green onions in this recipe for several reasons. Besides increasing the green onion flavor, they also act as a filler, reduce the saltiness and make the sauce thicker. A thicker sauce will adhere to the noodles better.

Once the moisture from the onion, ginger and garlic has almost evaporated, add in the chopped pork and stir fry on high heat.

Add the two star anise to make the fried sauce even more fragrant.

After about 10 minutes of frying, the mixture will become pale in color and begin to build up some grease from the meat. At this point add in the soy paste, bean paste and tempeh mixture.

Stir fry evenly to combine then add the brown sugar, continuing to stir. Although the nutritional value of brown sugar is no different to white sugar, the flavor is very different, brown sugar being richer.

At this point the sauce does not look like much, and you may be a tad disappointed, but don’t worry, the last weapon is still to come: the stock. Pour 150 ml of stock into the pot and stir to combine. The fried sauce gradually combines with the stock, coating the diced pork. Continue to heat, so that the water in the stock evaporates and the sauce thickens becoming sticky.

When you can run a spatula through the sauce and have it stay apart and not immediately rejoin, you have reached the right consistency. When the sauce reaches this level of stickiness, it has become “small bowl dry fried” fried sauce. This process requires continuously scraping the wall and bottom of the pot with a silicon spatula to stop the sauce sticking to the sides.

You will get the most enjoyment from this meal by eating the fried sauce as soon as possible. Otherwise it will become salty, and the meat hardened.