Stir fried pork with ginger

Yesterday, I mowed the back yards when I made it home. Once that was out of the way, I turned my attention to dinner. I still had some of that pork taco meat that I bought on Sunday. It is a coarse chop, smaller than stew meat, but a lot bigger than coarse ground. For you in da U.P., it would be called pork (or beef) for pasties.

I also had a nice piece of ginger root, which always goes well in a stir fry. The four dogs watched me as I chopped up the vegetables. Camper and Squeeky insisted on getting scraps of bell pepper and celery. I also have two guest dogs this week. Cooper wasn’t interested in vegetables at all. Smokey wanted to try them because my dogs were wolfing them down, but when he did, he’d just spit it back out. Smokey is open minded, but still no vegetarian. 

Smokey

As far as Camper was concerned, that just meant more bell pepper and celery for he and Squeeky. Here’s how I made dinner.

Peanut oil

1 cup of chopped pork, 

3 tbs. of ginger cut into match sticks

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tbs. salsa

Soy sauce

1 large bell pepper, cut into strips

3 stalks of celery, cut into half inch pieces

1 large jalapeño, cut into strips

1 large onion, cut into wedges

1 large shallot, cut into slices

1 cup of sliced baby broccoli

1/2 cup of stir fry sauce (optional)

Toasted sesame oil

Steamed rice

Preparation

Mix the pork, ginger, garlic, salsa, and a splash of soy sauce in a bowl. Heat a wok until hot. Here’s a trick for the brave, who have a gas stove. Most gas stoves, have a heavy metal circle that deflects the gas flame around its edge. If you remove that circle, and use a lighter to light a low gas flow, you’ll get a column of flame. Set the wok over that, and turn up the flame to a jet. Now you’ll have enough heat to do a stir fry right.

As I said, heat your wok until hot. Add enough peanut oil to coat the wok, and leave a little puddle in the center. Add the pork and ginger mixture. Stir until the pork is cooked through, and starting to brown. Remove it to a bowl. If necessary, add a bit more peanut oil, and then add the baby broccoli. Stir that for a minute, and add the celery. Give that another minute of stirring, and then add the peppers.

After the peppers have stir fried a minute, toss in the onion and shallots. Stir that until the onion just begins to soften. Add the pork and drippings back to the wok. Stir until everything is sizzling. 

Add a generous splash of soy sauce and, if you like, add about a half cup of stir fry sauce. When every thing is sizzling good, turn off the heat, and add just a splash of toasted sesame oil.

Serving

Place a mound of rice in the center of your plate, and spoon the stir fry all around it. If you like, sprinkle a little cajun seasoning over the plate just to brighten up the flavor. I also had a bowl of wilted cucumber and onions and a little chilled Chardonnay.