Pork Stir Fry with Garden-Fresh Tat Soi

May 6th, 2009 · No Comments · Blog

Look closely and you can see the tat soi from our garden

Look closely and you might see the tat soi from our garden

We are having great fun with our cast-iron wok. We’ve stir-fried almost every imaginable protein. Tonight it was time for pork to take a turn.

I simply cut some boneless pork chops into thin strips and created a multi-faceted stir-fry using enoki mushrooms left over from a catering job along with tat soi freshly harvested from the garden and vegetables we already had on hand. What works best for me is to fry the different elements separately–vegetables, then tat soi, then mushrooms, then meat, then garlic–and toss them all together with seasonings just before serving. In fact, for an even lazier approach, you can have all of your items already cooked well before people sit down to the table, then throw them together in a hot wok to make a great show of your skills.

Notice, no rice or noodles with this dish. Just the pork and fresh vegetables. You know what? We don’t miss the starchy carbohydrates at all.

A brief note on enoki mushrooms: the cultivated variety are bone white with long, thin stems and tiny caps. They typically come in tight clusters, often in a package. We trim off the block of fungus at the root end. The mushrooms have a delicate flavor and practically melt when cooked. They don’t require washing and cook very quickly.

Recipe: Pork Stir Fry with Garden-Fresh Tat Soi

Ingredients

canola oil 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced on an angle
1/2 onion, cut into thin strips
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
3 cups tat soi leaves
4 ounces enoki mushrooms, trimmed
8 ounces boneless pork loin, cut into thin strips
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
2 tablespoons garlic-chili paste
2 teaspoons Mirin

Instructions

To a very hot wok at 3 tablespoons canola oil.
When oil is smoking, add celery, onion, green and red peppers. Cook until vegetables are just beginning to soften. Use a slotted spoon or wok tool to remove the vegetables to a bowl, draining as much oil as possible back into the wok.
Add tat soi to the wok and cook until leaves are completely wilted. Remove, straining oil, and add to vegetable bowl.
Add mushrooms to wok, cook through, and remove to vegetable bowl.
If needed, add oil to wok. When it is smoking, ease in pork. Toss until browned and cooked through. Remove, draining off excess oil, and place in vegetable bowl.
Add garlic to wok and cook, tossing frequently, until it begins to brown.
Add all of the previously cooked vegetables and meat to the wok, plus garlic-chili paste and mirin, and toss until everything is heated through.
Serve immediately.