Simple Stir-fried Sugar Crust (Easy Version)

Ingredients

• Sugar (Choose one):
• Rock Sugar: Produces the most vibrant and bright red color; must be stir-fried with water and oil, as it melts very slowly without water.
• White Sugar: Must be stir-fried with water and oil, as it melts very slowly without water.
• Cotton Candy Sugar: Can be stir-fried without adding water.
• Do not use too high a flame during the process!!! Electric hobs may have insufficient temperature. If the heat is over, it will taste bitter; if the heat is insufficient, it will be too sweet.

Steps

1. ⚠️ **High Energy Warning & Pre-processing**:
2. The final step of making sugar crust (adding water/ingredients) requires continuous and rapid action. Once the sugar crust reaches the critical point, a delay of a few seconds will result in it becoming bitter.
3. **Requirement**: Before turning on the heat, place 400ml boiling water and all prepared aromatics (scallion, ginger, garlic) within reach of the stove to ensure they can be grabbed within 1 second.
4. Turn on the heat and pour 100ml boiling water into the pan.
5. Pour another 100ml oil into the pan. The shorter the interval between this step and the previous one, the better. At this stage, the pot can be on high or medium heat; if in a hurry, use high heat.
6. Add rock sugar (If the rock sugar is in large clumps, you can break them beforehand; the better the separation, the better).
7. Adjust the heat to medium.
8. Start stirring.
9. Keep stirring continuously until it turns a brownish-yellow. At this point, **turn to low heat**.
10. It will then thin out, turn dark red, and finally turn the color of soy sauce with tiny bubbles appearing. Be ready to execute 'Operation 1' or 'Operation 2'.
11. The tiny bubbles will gradually disappear, followed by large bubbles appearing. This is when the sugar crust is finished.
12. You must perform the next step quickly (whichever operation you choose, prepare it in advance and do it fast! Otherwise, the heat will be too high, making the crust bitter). Make your choice based on the dish type and personal taste.
13. Operation 1: You can add 400ml boiling water directly to cool it down.
14. Operation 2 (Advanced Flavoring Version): When the sugar liquid turns date-red and starts bubbling dense small bubbles, quickly add the pre-prepared aromatics (scallion, ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, etc.) and stir-fry. **After the aroma blooms (within about 5-10 seconds), you must immediately pour in 400ml boiling water to cool down and stop the reaction**. (*Note: If the subsequent recipe requires stir-frying meat to color it, please stir-fry the meat in this step first, and add water later.*)