Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Vietnamese-style pork stir-fry



700 g of pork diced into small 1-inch-ish cubes

2/3 cup of finely chopped onions

2 handfuls of very finely diced raw broccoli - with as few stems as you can muster - Justin has textural issues, so I like to accommodate this when cooking for him

a bit of cayenne pepper

one 8-ounce package of Shirataki noodles (the kind blended with boy Konjac and tofu)

cooking oil

about a cup of water

marinade:

  • 1/4 tsp dried ginger
  • 1/4 tsp chopped red pepper
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp of Splenda (3 drops EZ-Sweetz)
  • 1/2 tsp xanthan gum pre-mixed with 1 tsp oil 
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp erythritol 
Mix everything except for the xanthan gum and oil mix - which you add last. 

Put pork in marinade for as long as you can bear it, up to overnight.

finishing sauce: 

  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp Splenda (6 drops Ez-Sweetz)
Mix this, put in a little container, and set aside until you actually cook the meal.

----
At dinner time:

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a wok until it shimmers. Add 2/3 cup of chopped onions and cook the heck out of it, all brown and caramelized. Add pork. Cook through until no longer pink on outside. Throw in 1 tbsp more of oil if the wok needs in. Throw in broccoli. Saute for a bit. Add in finishing sauce and 1 cup or so of water. I attacked the wok vigorously with extra cayenne pepper to kick up the heat a bit cuz that's just how I roll. Cook for a bit to get the broccoli soft and infuse the flavor. Add in a package of shirataki noodles (that have been drained and rinsed and parboiled on high in the microwave for 2 minutes and then redrained some more) and cook for as long as you can bear it and the sauce reduces to a nice thick consistency. And then yay! It's dinner time!

I loved this!

Next time I make it, I'll make sure to marinate it longer (overnight - I did about 4 to 5 hours I think on this go) and maybe add more acid through the lime, etc, to penetrate the pork tenderloin fibers a bit better, but the sauce was great! :D