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! 

Adventures in a Foreign Land

     

     Yesterday, I went to Chinatown with PN. It was to be a short, simple grocery shopping trip for me: pick up some veggies and some Asian condiments (as I was woefully lacking in anything I need to make the Asian foods I crave). Somehow, I ended up with four bags full of food. I got hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. I got cauliflower and scallions and bok choy. I got pho noodles and rice cakes, panko bread crumbs, and lychees... I went a little crazy.

Post-ravagement.

     But, that's not even the best part of this story. At this Chinese supermarket, no one seems to speak English. Especially the butchers. So, we stood in front of the meat counter, trying to stare through foggy glass at cuts of meat labelled in Chinese. It doesn't help that neither of us has paid much attention to our mothers' purchases of different meats in the past. This is how it went:

PN: Do you think those are pork chops?
Me: They seem like the right shape?
PN: Which one do you think is the butt?
Me: I think that one might be, because the butt is bigger than the shoulder, right? What do you think that is?
PN: I think that's the shoulder!
Me: Oh good! I want one.

     And so forth. After jumping up and down and saying Excuse Me at varying volumes to get the attention of the butchers, PN was brave first and bought two of the pork chops through ingenious use of pointing. I went next and did the same for a pork shoulder. Then she bought half a pound of something highly intriguing. They looked like ribs, except were cut even smaller than normal riblets, and some of the pieces didn't even have any bone (See picture above). I bought half a pound too.

     Back at home, I got tired of googling for potential recipes. I knew I wanted to marinate these pork bits in my newly bought sauces, but I didn't know what else to do. So, I did what any good cook does in times of trouble: I called my mom. From her, I got this simple procedure for cooking my baby ribs to perfection. They are tiny and delectable, I can easily see them playing the role of an appetizer at a party. But, regardless of what they can be, the sticky sweet and tangy marinade on the melting pieces of meat was irresistible. While "watching" them cool, I tried one, and then another, and then another. The next time I looked, half of the riblets were gone. Sometimes, you cannot wait to take pictures before you eat.

     Today, I wanted these riblets to be part of a real meal. So, I made rice, stir fried some bok choy, and here we are. A perfect Asian meal, using almost all the ingredients I bought yesterday. That, gives me a very satisfactory feeling indeed. To match the satisfied feeling in my stomach from warm rice, garlicky, crunch bok choy, and sweet savory pork. Just a note: these pork bits (if you use these to cook and not regular ribs, which you could also use in this recipe, if you just doubled the marinade), anyway: they have plenty of fatty bits and little bones. So, keep a napkin and potentially a bowl for bones around while you eat. Point being, it doesn't matter because they are just so good.

Hoisin-Honey Glazed Pork Riblets 

1/2 lb Pork Riblets 

1 tsp Sugar 

2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce 

1 tbsp Soy Sauce 

2 1/2 tbsp Honey 

1/2 tbsp Oyster Sauce 

2 tsp Salt 

1 tsp Black Pepper 

1/2 tbsp Vegetable Oil 

Prep For Pork: 

Fill a large bowl with water, 1 tsp of sugar, and 1 tsp of Salt. Submerge meat in it to brine. 

Marinade: 

Meanwhile, mix the hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, honey, and soy sauce in a medium bowl. Set aside. 

Cooking Pork: 

After 10-15 minutes of brining (these pieces of meat are so small you barely need to brine them at all), pour the water out of the bowl. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel. Then, dry rub with the black pepper and remaining teaspoon of salt. Lay the meat out on a cutting board (or something) so it dries completely. Once it is dry, heat the oil in a large pan. Sear the meat in the pan, browning it on both sides. Take the meat out of the pan. After letting it cool for a minute, put it in the marinade. Mix so each portion is coated thoroughly. Leave the mixture for half an hour (or longer for even better results). Then, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the marinated pork on a baking sheet, and place inside the oven. It will only take 5-10 minutes to cook if you use the small size riblets I did. Regular riblets or ribs would probably take 10-15 minutes, just keep an eye out.  

Note:

Since all my marinade didn't get soaked into the pork, I just poured it back onto the pork once I took the slightly cooled pork off the baking sheet and placed it in a bowl. 

Garlicky Bok Choy 

Adapted from Steamy Kitchen

1 Bok Choy 

1 Small Garlic Clove (or 1/2 of a larger one), Minced 

1/8 tsp Ginger Powder 

1/2 tbsp Vegetable Oil 

1 tbsp Water

Prep for Bok Choy: 

Trim the bok choy by cutting off the very bottom of the stem (the thickest part). Then, pull part the different segments. Keep the little baby bok choy in the center intact. Rinse all the segments lightly under water to clean, then drain. 

Cooking Bok Choy: 

Place the oil, garlic, and ginger in a cold wok or large frying pan. Heat them all up together at medium heat. When the garlic is sizzling and golden, add the bok choy. Toss the segments in the oil till they are all completely coated with garlicky oil. Then, pour in the water, and immediately cover the pan. Let it cook for 1 minute, and then take out and serve.

Note:

I only made one bok choy because I just wanted it for lunch today. But, if you are cooking for a crowd or just want to eat more veggies, the Steamy Kitchen link has the proportions for cooking 1 lb of bok choy.