Healing Mapo Ragù

Image courtesy of Geoffrey Mak.

When the pandemic first hit, Geoffrey Mak was living in Berlin. The writer was struggling with addiction, and had stopped speaking with his father, an evangelical minister whom he came out to at age 29 via email. The decision to move home was a bizarre turn akin to the arrival of a virus that shut down the world. While there, though, the two began repairing their relationship. He came across a recipe for spicy minced pork online and gave it a try. “Each member cooked for the family on a different night of the week,” Mak recalls of the Korean, Chinese and Italian fusion dish. “I found I made this most often, and every time I cook it now, I think of the year I spent with my parents.” Mak has since explored the profound value of connection in his writing. And this year, he released his first book of essays Mean Boys with Bloomsbury, which continues his work of personal and cultural excavation. 

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Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons neutral oil, like canola
• 2 large onions, peeled and sliced
• Pinch of kosher salt, or to taste
• 1 pound ground pork
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 10­-15 frozen cylindrical rice cakes (optional), or rice noodles, pasta, or steamed rice
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 3 tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili bean paste)
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns
• 1 bunch kale or any hearty cooking greens, roughly chopped
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a wok set over medium-high heat. When it simmers, add the onions and a pinch of salt. 
2. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have released their moisture and start to brown, approximately 10 minutes. 
3. Then turn the heat down to low, and continue to cook, stirring every few minutes, until they have turned golden brown and sweet, an additional 20 minutes or so.
4. Pour the onions into a bowl and return the wok to high heat over the stove. 
5. Add remaining tablespoon of oil, then the pork, and break the meat up with a spoon until it is just cooked but not yet browning, approximately 10 minutes. Add the cooked meat to the reserved onions.
6. If using the rice cakes, put a large pot of salted water over high heat, and bring to a boil.
7. Return wok to stove over medium heat and cook the garlic and ginger in fat remaining from pork (add an extra splash of neutral oil if necessary). 
8. When the garlic and ginger soften, add gochujang, soy sauce, brown sugar and, if using, the Sichuan peppercorns. 
9. Add ½ cup to 1 cup of water, enough to loosen the gochujang and make a sauce, then return pork and onions to the wok and stir to combine.
10. Adjust seasonings. Bring sauce to a simmer, and add the chopped greens, then stir to combine and cook until they have started to soften, approximately 5 minutes.
11. If using rice cakes, place them in the boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes to soften, then drain and add to the sauce. (If not, serve the ragù with steamed rice, rice noodles, or pasta.) Garnish with the sliced scallions.