This stirfry came together on a humble Monday evening–a week ago yesterday, in fact. Normally my husband cooks on Monday nights because my yoga class conveniently interferes with my regular dinner-making time. Heh heh. However, the class happened to be cancelled because my teacher was still traveling back from the Superbowl. And I never thought I’d say this–but I’m so glad yoga was cancelled! Because it allowed me to make this stirfry. And while I love stirfries and have made many in my day, the sauce in this one quickly topped the charts as the awesomest.
Adapted from Kayotic Kitchen’s Pork in Sweet Soy Sauce, this stirfry packs a flavor that had me drinking up the sauce at the end of the meal. It’s very easy to make, and I can promise you will love it.
Ingredients
(Serves 5)
2 lbs boneless pork chops
5 TBS peanut oil, divided
4 TBS dark soy sauce
4 TBS light soy sauce
4 TBS ginger syrup (‘ginger juice’)
6 TBS sriracha (sweet chili sauce)
2 TBS brown sugar
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp curry powder
1 large onion
2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 green)
5 cloves garlic
3 green onions
Now there’s a lot of prep work up front, but if you own a sharp knife and listen to some music, the chopping and mincing and dicing will get done in no time at all.
So! Slice the bell peppers into thin strips and then halve the strips.
Halve the onion lengthwise, then crosswise like so . . .
. . . and slice it into quarter-rings.
Set the vegetables aside.
Now grab your cloves of garlic. You can loosen the papery skin by pressing down hard with the flat of your knife, but it’s easier to just bash them a couple times with a can.
The skin comes off so easily that way! Really–the Pioneer Woman taught me.
Mince the garlic, set it aside.
Slice the pork, and set it aside.
Hint: at the end there will be a quiz asking how many times the instructions ‘set aside’ have been repeated. The winner gets a garbanzo bean.
Grab the green onions and dice them–set them aside too.
Now let’s make that killer sauce. Assemble the ranks!
Combine the dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, ginger syrup, sriracha, brown sugar, chili powder and curry powder, and mix.
Set aside.
On a side note, my ginger syrup was labeled ‘ginger juice,’ but it was thick like a syrup. The ginger flavor is unbelievable. I picked up my bottle at Golden Pacific Market, but I’m sure you could find some at almost any Asian grocery store. And if you don’t have any Asian grocery stores in your neck of the woods, you can even make your own!
So now that everything is chopped and minced and diced and mixed, we’re finally ready to fry! Heat half the peanut oil in a wok or large (12”) cast iron skillet. When hot, add the vegetables and fry for 5 minutes.
They will continue to cook later, so just let them go until they’re starting to get tender and browned. Remove them and reserve them for later.
See? “Reserve them for later.” I totally avoided using “set aside” again–I’m tricky like that. So if you want that garbanzo bean, you’d better watch your back.
Heat another 1 TBS oil in the same skillet. When the skillet is very hot, add half the pork. It’s best to fry the pork in two batches, because an overcrowded pan will cause the pork to steam-cook instead of truly frying. Stirfry the first batch for 3 minutes, then remove it to a plate. FYI, you want the skillet to be so hot that the pork browns pretty much immediately, on first contact with the pan, like so:
Heat the remaining oil, and when it’s très, très hottée, add the rest of the pork. Stirfry for 3 minutes, then add the set aside pork and garlic.
Fry for another minute, stirring frequently. Confession: I did all the pork at one go, and you can see in the bubbles of the picture above that my pork did not fry correctly. Thankfully it was still delicious, though mark my words friends: it could have been deliciouser.
Okay, time to add the vegetables back in . . .
. . . and the sauce.
Give it a good stir.
Now believe me–it will seem like waaay too much sauce. But it’s not. It’s all going to turn out alright in the end. In fact, it will turn out more than alright: it will send you on a rocket to the moon.
Bring it all to a boil, and cook over high heat for about 5 minutes.
The sauce should thicken during this time and start sticking to the pork and veggies. If it’s not thick enough, mix 2-3 tsp of cornstarch with some water, stir, and add the slurry to the sauce.
I added a slurry and the consistency was great.
Stir in the green onions right before serving.
Lookin’ glorious.
Serve over rice.
You can dig into it with a spoon . . .
. . . or with chopsticks. Whatever gets it into contact with your taste buds the fastest.
One of the best parts is simply eating the sauce-soaked rice.
I’m in heaven.
Click here for printer-friendly version: Pork in a Sweet Ginger Sauce
Anytime I hear pork and ginger and stir fry, my ears and tummy perk up! Looks fabulous, Jenna! 🙂
this does look good, you have a way of making complicated dishes look so easy. Also, you’ve inspired me to get out my cast iron pan and give it some TLC, yours looks so nice.
I’ve never heard of ginger juice, but now I MUST get some! And I am creeped out by garbanzo beans, so I won’t even hazard a guess!
Yum … between you and TKW, I am SET with dinner ideas for a while :-)…..
That looks fabulous! And I love that you take hints from the Pioneer Woman too! 🙂
Hmm…ginger juice huh? Can’t say I’ve ever used it. I usually have minced and whole ginger around the house so I think that could work well too if I didn’t have the juice handy. I’ve made a dish similar to this sans curry powder so this intrigues me. I think I’ll definitely give this a try.
Cool! If you make this and use fresh ginger instead of the ginger juice, I would add more sugar since the main ingredients of the ginger juice as I remember it are ginger and sugar. Hope you enjoy it!
I made the ginger sauce, modifying the amount of sugar between two recipes, one that called for 1 c and the other 2 c for the 1 cup of water. I did 1 1/2 c of sugar for 1 c water, and did fully 5 inches of finely sliced ginger from a nice big fat healthy couple of roots! I put in about a half t of lemon juice, and am letting the ginger sit in it until it is totally cool. I also plan to use the cooked ginger pieces somehow…. maybe I’ll let them dry out and see if they become crystalized ginger…. I LOVE GINGER!
Wawawewah, this looks great and I think we’d love it. I’m hesitating over the 6 T of sriracha, though. We like spicy stuff, but isn’t that enough to kill a person? Just a little dab on your tongue is like fire. But maybe with all the other ingredients, it’s spicy but not overwhelming?
I didn’t find it to be too spicy (and definitely not overwhelming)–the 6 TBS are in a context of 8 TBS soy sauce and a ton of other stuff . . . and the recipe feeds 5 people, so the sriracha really spreads out. =) Anyway, if you’re worried about it though, just reduce it to 4 TBS and see how you like it. You can always taste the sauce at the end and add in more as you see fit.
See, I’m not a taster, I really need to start doing that!! Thanks. If it wasn’t too spicy for you, it prob wouldn’t be for us but I’ll try that tasting thang. 🙂
Sounds great. I’ll get behind your tasting campaign 100%.
As I read the amount and reread it, I opted for 2 T of the sriracha… I’ll let you know how it tastes once it is all cooked together. The wok is heating as I type!
Do the full 6! (is it 6? Whatever the recipe says–it’s not a typo!) Don’t worry, the heat will be nothing to you.
OK! Good thing I only used 2 T of the sriracha… it was more than enough heat without being utterly painful… so I cannot imagine 6T. Are you sure that shouldn’t be 6t??
Maybe our sauces were different, because I totally used 6 TBS. Then again, I had a lot of pork and the recipe made enough for 5-6 people. Did you reduce the recipe to serve 2?
OK, I think — despite recent news — we’re going to have to move to your neighborhood, nonetheless. We need to be within short walking distance of the glory that is your dining room table. Surely you and A need help destroying the evidence of such mind-boggling, government-toppling, world-changing greatness?!?
I love any kind of stir fry! You can really just throw anything in the pan and dinner comes together in a flash! Yum!
Yum!
Thanks for using the best condiment in the world – sriracha.
Suggestion – I’m thinking I would marinate the pork in that sauce goodness. I’m guessing could help them char better.
P.S. I counted 6 set asides (not including reserve for later). I’ll take my garbanzo bean in the post thank you very much.
oh my, this looks amazing. i love making my own chinese take out food.
And this sauce will blow take-out out of the water, guaranteed. I’m usually disappointed by the lack of flavor in the ‘brown’ sauces that abound so much at cheaper Chinese joints. But in this sauce, the flavor is ALL there.
i can’t wait to try it!
It looks and sounds so delicious!
The photos of your amazing dish have my mouth watering ~ Well done!
Oh yum, this recipe is a KEEPER!!! Thanks for sharing. (I’ve bookmarked for future reference!!) Have a great rest of the day Jenna.
I’m in heaven just reading it. I can only imagine eating it.
I love the gorgeous rich color of this stir fry and it look perfect served over the rice. I would be happy to miss yoga for this as well!
Sometimes weird things happen for good reason. Thank god for yoga teachers who love football because this sauce sounds fantastical! Especially given my ginger addiction. Must make.
Jenna: delish dish and the step-by-step was great
Hey!!! I thought I was the one to teach you about peeling garlic by squashing it with the flat of the knife blade… although a can bottom is probably mush safer!
Looks totally yummy. I may have to kidnap you and sequester you here in Stevens Point where you will become your parents’ personal chef, which of course means Adam will have to become a prof here at the University, etc, etc,….