Pickled Young Ginger and Fresh Pineapple Beef Stir-Fry

Why people make this dish

Young ginger (zi jiang) has a brief season each year, and pickling a jar when it appears is one of Nourilo’s favourite ways to preserve it. The sweet-sour pickled version is a classic Cantonese condiment — served alongside century egg as a starter, or used in stir-fries to cut through richness and wake up the palate. Combined here with fresh pineapple and quickly seared beef, this dish is full of bright, lively flavours. In Chinese food therapy, this combination is traditionally considered to warm and activate the spleen and stomach — practical language for what most people would simply describe as a dish that makes you feel genuinely hungry again.