If you can make asparagus bacon-wrapped, you can certainly cook it Hunan-style, with bacon, green chilli, and garlic!

The only thing you may have to get around is that you shouldn’t try to leave the asparagus spears whole, as so many recipes do it.

Naturally, as this is Chinese food, you should cut it into pieces that fry rather more quickly and are easier to take with chopsticks.

If you want to object because asparagus is phallic, ask yourself if a wrinkled-up baked spear of asparagus is really what you want to present ;-p

I’m not writing a recipe here because, well, there hardly is one.

It’s not a traditional dish with an established way of cooking it, and even if it were, Chinese cooking usually has lots of variations and offers room to vary amounts as desired.

Preparation

Just take as much asparagus as you want to use (half of the 500g bunches they are usually sold here was good for two people, as part of a meal).

Wash, cut off ends that are too tough, cut and slice into pieces (about 1 inch / 2.5 cm long, then halved or quartered is my usual).

Wash and chop green chilli, 2-5 pieces, medium-hot.

Peel and crush 3-5 cloves of garlic.

Cut small slices or pieces of bacon. Fatty one! The right amount is the one you want. I’d suggest asparagus with bacon, not bacon with asparagus, but hey – it’s you who’s reading about cooking this!

Cooking

Heat up a little oil in the pan, i.e. wok, (just to prevent sticking if necessary), add in the bacon.

Fry for a few minutes to render fat (and take out some of it if the bacon starts to swim in fat; cook the next vegetables with that).

When the bacon starts to lightly brown and crisp, add the asparagus.

Fry until softened, add the chilli and garlic and stir-fry it all a bit longer. (Definitely not until it burns, otherwise it doesn’t matter too much, you just want to get the flavors all together.)

Salt, mix, put into whatever bowl you use for serving this dish.

Do I need to say that this should be one dish of around 3, if you’re serving two people? Eaten with rice?

Well, in case you didn’t know, now you do.