Lunch Week 40: Pork Stir Fry and Rice

So every Sunday, I head over to the kitchen to whip up a big batch of food for lunch next week. Yes, I brown bag. And I almost always do it, unless I become too busy to even buy cold cuts from the deli. I do it for several reasons being health, finance, and laziness. Now, you may think that spending hours on a day off to prep and cook five meals at once is hardly lazy. But let me remind you, I hate it when the time comes to decide what to eat for lunch every day. I work in Midtown so the choices are endless. My problem, the more choices, the harder it is for me. So it's much easier for me to have my lunch ready and already decided.

So my lunch for the week: Pork Stir Fry and Rice

Stir fry is one of the more popular Chinese dishes. Why wouldn't it be? Meats and veggies cooked until just done leaving flavor and texture intact. It's delicious and easy.

I start with some pork. This time I used pork tenderloin. It's a leaner pork and inexpensive. However, you can easily use pork chops, chicken, or beef in this dish.

I sliced the pork into thin pieces.

Then into a bowl with dark soy sauce, five spice powder, oil, salt, pepper, and red chili flakes. Set aside.

Then the chopping of the veggies. It's easiest to chop everything into similar sized pieces for even cooking. Also, you don't want to be eating this dish and come across a large piece of food while everything else is smaller. Here, I have shitake and oyster mushrooms, red bell peppers, carrots, and sugar snap peas.

And here is some chopped garlic, ginger, scallions, red onion, and bean sprouts.

Once your mise en place (chopped prep work) is done, the cooking begins. I start with the pork. Take a large saute pan or wok and heat until very hot. Add the oil and heat it until it's slightly smoking. Add all of your pork at once. Spread out evenly then don't touch for about 5 minutes. This helps develop the lovely caramelization. You'll get browned meats this way instead of gray meat. After about 5 minutes then flip your meat over and over again until evenly cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside.

Using the same pan, add more oil. Once hot and smoking again, add the carrots. Stir fry until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add red bell peppers. Again, stir fry until slightly softened. Lastly, add the peas. Keep stirring until the peas are bright green. At the last moment, add salt and some light soy sauce (about 1-2 tbsp). Stir and mix lightly. Then remove from pan and add to bowl with pork.

Using the same pan again, add oil. Once hot and smoking, add garlic and ginger. Cook 1 minute (avoid burning) and add red onion. Then add the mushrooms and stir fry until softened. Add salt and green onions/scallions. Remove from heat and add to bowl of pork and veggies.

Lastly, cook your bean sprouts. Again, heat oil, then add the sprouts. These cook really quickly so you can add the salt right away. In about 3 minutes they should be cooked through. Remove from heat and add to the rest of the veggies.

Once everything is added, mix well and thoroughly. This can be eaten on its on or over some rice.

I like white rice the best which can be made in an electric cooker while the pork and veggies are being stir fried.

So how'd it come out? Not bad at all. The pork loin is a leaner cut so the meat can be tough and dry. But paired with the vegetables and sauce, I liked it. I especially likes the flavor of the 5 spices. It's kind of unique and adds a little something different to an otherwise normal meal. The veggies remained crunchy and full of flavor. The rice was a nice base and filled me up. Using the spices and sauces allowed this dish to be flavorful without adding too much fat and calories. Yum!