stirred and fried

I lurve stir fry. I lurve all stir fries, but this particular combo is one of my favorites.

Pork and broc!

I love how traditional foods are so much healthier than “modern foods”. Take a stir fry. Take a meat that is environmentally sustainable (pigs can live in TEENY TINY LAND in China, compared with resource-heavy beef) and lean and healthy, extend it with fresh vegetables, and serve atop of your staple grain. And it’s so good!

My secret ingredient in the seasoning was this:

 

On the (admittedly, somewhat rare) occasion I go for a spring roll, I am always on the mustard side of the mustard vs duck sauce debate. I love that tang of Chinese mustard. And I thought, hey, pork and mustard! Love that combo! So I included it in tonight’s stir fry, but honestly… couldn’t really pick it out. What I made was basically, in the great tradition of not particularly authentic Chinese food, “brown sauce”.

But yknow what? Like many in the great tradition of not particularly authentic Chinese food, it was YUMZ! I love all the sauce soaking up goodness that happens in a good stir fry :D

Pork and Broccoli Stir Fry (serves 1)

4 oz pork tenderloin, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 t. vegetable oil (or peanut oil, or canola, etc.)

1/2 large clove garlic (or one small), minced

1/2 t. minced ginger

broccoli florets (you could add however much you want, I probably had a cup and a half or so?)

1 T soy sauce

1 t. Chinese mustard

1/2 t. honey

crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)

Combine your soy sauce, mustard, honey, and pepper flakes in a container. Set aside.

Heat a pan coated in cooking spray on medium high. Put in pork pieces and stir fry until browned (they don’t have to finish cooking at this point). Set them aside.

Add 1/2 t. oil to the pan, then add garlic and ginger. Stir and fry for 30 seconds or so, until golden. Then add broccoli. Lower heat to medium-low, then stir and fry for 3 minutes.

Return pork to pan, and pour on soy sauce mixture. Simmer everything together until pork is cooked through and broccoli is tender, adding water as necessary to prevent scorching. Serve atop brown rice! And eat with chopsticks if you’re cool like me :D

   

Two things:

1. I accidentally gave myself a double serving of brown rice, and didn’t notice til I had almost finished eating it, because I was feeling so ludicrously full, hah! I’m considering it a happy accident. I should eat more, and it tasted great, and brown rice is almost stupidly nutritious.

2. This is my latest place for food photoshoots- on TOP of my DESK CHAIR, slightly to the side of my lamp. I cannot win at this in an on-campus apartment. I’m hoping that this is better than under the lamp (garish), under the flourescent light on the kitchen counter (ugly) or on the kitchen table (dark).