When Slowly Starving

     

     Some days are long. So long because you have work in the morning, class in the afternoon, work at night, and then you get home and you just want to EAT something but you don't know what. So what do you do? Well, I putter aimlessly around the kitchen for five minutes. There is pork in the fridge but what to do with it? Baking it is obviously not an option, not if my stomach is making certain grumbling noises.

     But, this Thursday I got lucky. My aimless puttering landed me in front of our giant bag of rice and I realized I knew exactly what to make which would be quick, simple, satisfying, and delicious. Fried Rice. Who doesn't like fried rice with pork? Except Vegetarians, who don't count (hush I'm making a point here).

     So, I marinated my pork for ten minutes while I cooked rice in the microwave. In case you ever don't have time to use the rice cooker (since mine generally takes 20 minutes) and want to make rice for just yourself: Put 1/2 cup of rice in a microwave safe bowl, add 1 cup of water, cover the bowl with a microwave safe lid and microwave for about 8 minutes. 8 minutes makes the rice perfect with my microwave, but it took much trial and error to find that out. You may have to fiddle with a few different times. Double the amount of rice and water for two people and so forth. 

     Anyhow, my fried rice ended up containing pork, egg, and kale. There is kale now defrosting in my fridge, as you may recall, and it needs to be used up. I love fried rice. To me, it is comforting in a french fries and burger kind of way. It has an unhealthy-tummy filling-utterly delicious vibe, but when you make it at home, it's not actually that unhealthy. What else could one ask for? I was so happy with it, I gulped it down in five minutes flat. My soy sauce-hoisin sauce-honey marinade made my pork taste great and just like restaurant pork. The kale made me feel a little healthier, and gave everything a fresh taste. And the rice was delicious. I love that this fried rice actually reminded me of take-out fried rice. Maybe I should package some in those little white boxes, except I wolfed it all down too fast. Next time. 

Pork Fried Rice

For Pork:

1 Thin Boneless Pork Chop 

1 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tsp Hoisin Sauce

1/2 tbsp Honey 

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil 

For Fried Rice: 

1 Thin Boneless Pork Chop worth of Cooked Pork 

1 Egg, Beaten 

1/4 cup Pre-Boiled Kale 

1 1/2 tbsp Vegetable Oil 

1/2 cup Rice, Cooked and Cooled (Note: See Post Above) 

1 tbsp Soy Sauce 

To Cook the Pork

Trim the pork chop of excess fat. Then, cut it into bite size (1/2'' by 1/2'' pieces). In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and honey together. Drop in the pieces of pork and turn them to allow each piece to be thoroughly coated with marinade. Allow the pieces to marinate in the bowl for 15 minutes while cooking rice, etc. Then, heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan at medium heat. Cook the pork for 2 mins on each side until each piece is cooked through. Transfer it back into the bowl with the remaining marinade. (I used the oil left in the pan to scramble the egg in.) 

To Cook the Fried Rice: 

After cooking the pork, pour the beaten egg into the frying pan and scramble it. Set the pan aside. In a wok or large saucepan (what I had), heat up the vegetable oil at medium heat. Add the rice and and soy sauce, and mix them together thoroughly. Add the pork, the remaining pork-marinade, eggs, and kale, stirring till everything is well combined. Allow everything to cook together for a few minutes, and you are ready to serve!