Pork Chow Mein with Egg

It is the end of the month, and, as I have talked about before, as a teacher, I get paid once a month.  My usual motus operandi is to splurge at the beginning of the month, then create and enjoy pantry meals at the end of it.  This is one of those dishes.  I had been craving Chinese food, but I was exhausted and I just did not want to drive to the other side of my town (and to be fair, I live in a pretty small town, so it was me being lazy) to my favorite Chinese take-out restaurant.  Therefore, I decided to make my own.  I love pork fried rice and pork or chicken chow mein.  Having had pork thawing in the frig, and no rice, I decided to combine the two.  I  made chow mein with items I had on hand in my frig and pantry.  This was a one-wok dish and I am a bit proud of it. 

I have been hearing about one-pot wonder dishes, but many of them take a slow-cooker all day to make some pretty amazing dishes.  I was hungry and did not want to take hours to do it.  I experimented, and this dish came out very well.  May not look as pretty as I could have made it, and I know what I will do very differently next time to make the aesthetics more appealing, but in flavor, this was awesome, and as you know, I do not often "toot my own horn" about my own dishes.  I'd rather let others do that, if they are at all going to.  

Let's get started.  Dudes, if you want to impress your date with your culinary prowess, this is a great one!  Your date may think you just went to the take out, but you can honestly say you made this meal in about thirty minutes in one pan or wok all by yourself.  Here is what I did, to get you started.  

I used half of a bag of frozen varied colored slivered bell peppers.  I coarsely chopped one large onion, and slivered four cloves, garlic. I took half a pound (or, package) of angel hair pasta and broke them in half.  I set aside the following:

3 eggs, whisked

1 pound diced pork dark meat (from the shoulder)

1.5 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup Tamari Soy Sauce

2 teaspoons sriracha sauce

1 teaspoon chili in garlic oil

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon evoo

1 tablespoon fresh-frozen grated ginger (I keep the bulbs in my freezer)

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

 1 rounded teaspoon of tamarind paste (I love the tart sweet taste)

Pork seasoning before cooking:

1 rounded teaspoon coarse sea salt

pepper

 1.5 teaspoons coriander seed

1 teaspoon ground cumin, or cumin seed

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

I began by adding half of the garlic chips and a pinch of cumin seed to the toasted sesame oil and evoo over low heat in my wok.  You could easily use a high-sided saute skillet/pan.  The garlic and cumin infuse the oil in the wok with their oils, causing an amazing fragrance to emerge in your kitchen. 

 

 

Once the garlic chips begin to sizzle, I add (and all of my stir fry dishes start out this way, by-the-way), I add a half teaspoon of the chili in garlic oil and stir.  After two  minutes, I remove the garlic chips and set aside.  In this case, I then brought the oil to elevated heat over medium-high, added the seasoned pork and began to saute it, tossing the pork around in the oil to evenly coat it with the intensely flavorful oil.  Once it began to caramelize, I added the onions and tossed it around for a few minutes to also coat the onions with the increasingly flavorful oil.  Next, I added the pepper and repeated, just for a couple of minutes.  Finally, I moved the pork and veg to the sides of the wok and added the chicken stock, soy and sriracha sauce and stirred it briskly over high heat.  I added the halved angel hair pasta to the center and allowed it cook, or boil, for five minutes under my watchful eye before I incorporated the rest and tossed it for several more minutes.  I reduced the heat to medium and allowed it to simmer briskly for seven minutes more, tossing every couple of minutes.

  

 

Now, I elevated the heat to high, added the whisked eggs and tossed continuously as the egg solidified onto the pasta, pork and veg.  This took several minutes of continuous tossing.  Great for working out the arms!  I used tongs for this, you a wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula works just fine.  (I know this, as I tried to find the best utensil to use; I found the tongs worked best, but the others were fine).  

I served simply, with only coarsely chopped cilantro and almond slivers in an udon bowl.  Simple, flavorful and filling!  Who could ask for more?  Dudes and Ladies who want to impress their dates, I tell you, this is so easy to do!  The only chopping is the onion and garlic!!!  So easy and flavorful!  And, one wok or high-sided skillet, cutting board and utensils for easy clean-up afterward!  I hope you try this, families or singles!  Great for a family week day or weekend meal for families on the go!  

 

As always, Thank You for your time and consideration!  

Now, Go Cook Something for someone you  love!!!