Pork Lo Mein

I'm back with a new recipe! I'll be honest, I almost didn't make this for dinner tonight. I had to work late and was feeling lazy, but I'm glad that I made myself cook this for dinner. Although sometimes it's hard to get up the motivation to start when I'm busy and tired, cooking is always ultimately good for my mood and really relaxes me.


I saw this recipe on an episode of America's Test Kitchen and thought it sounded right up my alley. I couldn't find fresh Chinese egg noodles so I used dried linguine, substituted fish sauce for the oyster sauce since that's what I had, and my grocery store was shamefully out of shiitake mushrooms, so I had to use regular white mushrooms. But it still turned out great! I used Sriracha for the chile garlic sauce and if you don't like things spicy, I'd cut back or eliminate it all together (lucky for me, I love spicy food).

Pork Stir Fry with Noodles (Lo Mein)
from America's Test Kitchen
Serves 4

3 T. soy sauce
2 T. oyster sauce
2 T. hoisin sauce
1 T. toasted sesame oil
1/4 t. five-spice powder
1 lb. boneless country-style pork ribs, trimmed of surface fat and excess gristle and sliced crosswise into 1/8-inch pieces
1/4 t. liquid smoke (optional)
1/2 c. low-sodium chicken broth
1 t. cornstarch
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 t.)
2 t. grated fresh ginger
4.5 t. vegetable oil
4 T. Chinese rice cooking wine (Shao-Xing) or dry sherry
1/2 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed, caps cut in halves or thirds (about 3 c.)
2 bunches scallions, whites thinly sliced and greens cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 c.)
1 small head Napa or Chinese cabbage, halved, cored, and sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch strips (about 4 c.)
12 oz. Chinese egg noodles (fresh) or 8 oz. dried linguine
1 T. Asian chile garlic sauce 

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat.

2. Whisk soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and five-spice powder together in medium bowl. Place 3 tablespoons soy sauce mixture in large zipper-lock bag; add pork and liquid smoke, if using. Press out as much air as possible and seal bag, making sure that all pieces are coated with marinade. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour. Whisk broth and cornstarch into remaining soy sauce mixture in medium bowl. In separate small bowl, mix garlic and ginger with 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil; set aside.

3. Heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in 12-inch cast-iron or nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add half of pork in single layer, breaking up clumps with wooden spoon. Cook, without stirring, 1 minute. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons wine to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, until liquid is reduced and pork is well coated, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer pork to medium bowl and repeat with remaining pork, 1 teaspoon oil, and remaining 2 tablespoons wine. Wipe skillet clean with paper towels.

4. Return skillet to high heat, add 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, and heat until just smoking. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Add scallions and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are wilted, 2 to 3 minutes longer; transfer vegetables to bowl with pork.

5. Add remaining teaspoon vegetable oil and cabbage to now-empty skillet; cook, stirring occasionally, until spotty brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Clear center of skillet; add garlic-ginger mixture and cook, mashing mixture with spoon, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir garlic mixture into cabbage; return pork-vegetable mixture and chicken broth-soy mixture to skillet; simmer until thickened and ingredients are well incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.

6. While cabbage is cooking, stir noodles into boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until noodles are tender, 3 to 4 minutes for fresh Chinese noodles or 10 minutes for dried linguine. Drain noodles and transfer back to Dutch oven; add cooked stir-fry mixture and garlic-chili sauce, tossing noodles constantly, until sauce coats noodles. Serve immediately.

Spicy Chicken Fried Rice with Peanuts

This recipe is courtesy of Ellie Krieger and comes the March 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine. In addition to looking tasty, I'm glad this recipe will help me use up some of the green onions I'm growing that have gotten too tall to support their own weight. This recipe requires quite a bit of prep work, but cooks really quickly once you have your mise-en-place finished and are ready to go.

Spicy Chicken Fried Rice with Peanuts
from Cooking Light, March 2010

makes 5 servings

1/4 c. less-sodium soy suace
1 T. dark brown sugar
1 t. dark sesame oil
3/4 t. crushed red pepper
2 T. canola oil
2 c. diced red bell pepper (about 2)
1 c. diced onion
1/4 c. thinly sliced green onions
2 T. minced peeled fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves, minced
5 c. cold cooked brown rice
2 c. diced cooked chicken (about 1 lb)
1 (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1/3 c. chopped, unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl, stir well with a whisk.

2. Heat canola oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, diced onion, and 2 T. green onions to pan; stir-fry for 3 minutes or until tender. Add ginger and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute. Add rice, chicken, and water chestnuts; stir-fry for 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring gently. Add soy sauce mixture; cook 2 minutes, tossing gently to coat. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons green onions and peanuts.

 

  

 

Shrimp Fried Rice

While the fried rice from your average Americanized Chinese food restaurant is high-calorie and not very nutritious (though often pretty tasty), this fried rice recipe is packed full of veggies, lean protein, and whole grains (if you use brown rice as I did).

Shrimp Fried Rice
from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

2 eggs, beaten
1 t. soy sauce
1 t. sesame oil or vegetable oil (I highly recommend using sesame oil-it has a wonderful aroma and flavor)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. cooking oil
1/2 c. thinly biased sliced celery (1 stalk)
1 c. sliced fresh mushrooms
1 8.8-ounce pouch cooked white rice (2 cups; I used brown instead)
1 medium carrot, shredded
1/2 c. frozen peas, thawed
12 oz. peeled and deveined fully cooked shrimp
2 T. soy sauce
1/4 c. sliced green onion (2)

1. In a small bowl combine eggs and the 1 teaspoon soy sauce.

2. Pour sesame oil into a wok or large skillet. Preheat over medium heat. Add the egg mixture and garlic; stir gently to scramble. When set, remove the egg mixture from wok and cut up any large pieces. Remove wok from heat.

3. Pour the cooking oil into the walk or skillet. (Add more oil if necessary during cooking). Return to medium-high heat. Stir-fry celery in hot oil for 1 minute. Add mushrooms; stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes more or until the vegetables are crisp tender.

4. Add cooked rice, carrot, peas, and shrimp. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Cook and stir for 4 to 6 minutes or until heated through. Add cooked egg mixture and green onion; cook and stir for about 1 minute more or until heated through.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I love Chinese food, from the deep-fried Americanized version you'll find in a food court, to authentic recipes passed down by generations of Chinese grandmothers. My childhood favorite was always sweet and sour chicken so it was the first Chinese food I ever attempted to cook from scratch, starting with this recipe from The Joy of Cooking. I don't know how authentic the recipe is, but The Joy of Cooking is an eternal classic, so it's always a good place to start in my opinion.

This sweet and sour chicken turns out a little more on the sweet side if you use the whole 1/3 c. sugar. I don't like things terribly sweet, so I usually use less. I used red pepper flakes instead of ground red pepper since that's what I had on hand, using the full 1/2 teaspoon. I always serve it over brown rice, but I'm sure it would be delicious with chow mein noodles as well.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
from The Joy of Cooking

makes 4 to 6 servings

Although I made this recipe using chicken it is also very well-suited to be pork and can easily be made vegan by substituting 1.5 pounds of firm diced tofu for the meat, vegetable broth for the chicken broth, and margarine or oil for the butter.

Mix together in a small bowl or glass measuring cup and set aside:
1/2 c. chicken broth
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. cornstarch

Melt in a large skillet or pot over medium-low heat:
2 T. butter

Stir in:
1 large onion, diced
1 large red or green bell pepper, diced
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. salt
1/4 to 1/2 t. ground red pepper

Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are crisp-tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Add:
One 20-ounce can pineapple chunks, with their juice
3/4 c. chicken broth
1/3 c. distilled white or cider vinegar
1/3 c. sugar

Stir in the reserved cornstarch mixture (you'll want to stir it up again). raise heat to high and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Add:
3 to 4 c. diced cooked pork, chicken, turkey, or tofu

Return to a simmer, then turn the heat down as low as possible and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes to blend the flavors. Serve over rice or chow mein noodles.