you almost need to make it twice
Tuesday, August 21, 2012 at 3:01AM | Seeley deBorn Why? Because it cooks so fast you can't believe you actually made dinner.
I'm afraid that right now, as I type this, it's late, my brain is a little fried and I'm not entirley convinced I can even explain a recipe as simple as this one.
So, that's about all the preamble you get, and I make no promises that I will meet my weekly quota of almost dirty jokes, innuendo, entendre, or fucks.
Pork and Bok Choy Stir Fry
Really, the name says it all.
What you need:
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/4 of a small onion
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 2 cloves garlic
- an inch or so of ginger
- 1 tbsp peanut oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- big bag of baby bok choy
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp water
- sesame seeds and green onion to make it pretty
What you gotta do:
In a bigger bowl than you think you need, combine the first 7 ingredients (pork, onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, cornstarch).
Dice the onion, mince the garlic, and grate the ginger first though...
You just did about half the work on this dish.
While that rests and marinates, dump all your mini bok choys into a sink full of cold water.
A quick bath this way will get rid of any residual dirt caught between the stalks. Trim the ends off and separate the leaves.
Those of you familiar with romance epublishing will totally recognize the Samhain Publishing logo.
Totally looks like bok choy.
Drain most of the water off your little leaves, and set them aside while you start cooking.
Heat the peanut oil in a large pan over medium high heat. When it's hot enough that you want to start cooking in it, add the sesame oil.
Peanut oil can take the high heat needed for a stirfry, but sesame oil can't. Adding the sesame to the peanut helps protect it from burning in the 30 seconds it takes for you to get the pork in the pan.
Quick!
Don't worry, it won't burn in 30 seconds or anything.
But the pork cooks damn quick. You barely get it into the pan and it's done.
Once the pink is gone and you're thinking it's gotta be done (which takes all but 5 minutes, if that) drop in your still-damp bok choy.
This is why you needed a large pan. Greens like these start out big and wilt down to nothing in no time. Cover the pan and let them steam for 3-4 minutes.
I'm really starting to think I should have timed this one. I'll bet it's another one that can be done in less than 20 minutes.
The bok choy aren't entirly done yet, no, but it's only a couple minutes now.
In a small lidded container, shake up the last 3 ingredients (water, soy sauce, cornstarch), and pour them into the pan.
A bit of sriracha hot sauce would totally be awesome mixed in here, but I'm still working my kid up to hot chili sauce, so I refained.
In the time it takes for the sauce to thicken, the bok choy will finish cooking.
Serve on rice (leftover rice would make this one of the fastest dinners ever) or noodles.
I sprinkled mine with a little green onion and toasted sesame seeds. Lately I've been wanting toasted sesame seeds on everything and I'm trying to work out a cookie recipe that includes them.
I know a lot of people think stirfry has to be at least 8 kinds of vegetables and takes hours of chopping before hand, but really, it can be as simple as this. When I worked at a small town family owned Chinese restaurant, this is what I ate for dinner late at night with my employers. Home cooked family food. "Dinner for 4".
What do you like to order for take out?
Seeley deBorn
Okay, two things:
1) once again I have totally unintentionally copied Taneasha... a fast and easy dinner of ground meat, green things, and rice. Dude. I don't know how I keep doing this!
2) I have no idea why there's a lime in the ingredients pic.
Reader Comments (2)
Looks fab. I'll have to try it. First obstacle: pork.
Totally love the Samhain logo bit. I never realized it was bok choy before, but you're totally right. :)
Charlotte - I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you can probably use any kind of ground meat if you can't get pork.