stirfry

Teriyaki Pork Stir Fry

Tired of rich holiday meals? Want more fresh veggies in your entree? But don’t trust your Chinese restaurant to be gluten free? Or wanna make it cheaper than takeout? Try this easy way to create your own stir fry. I had some boneless pork chops and cut off the excess fat while chunking it for frying. You stir up a sauce and add it near the end all at once to coat the pork and the veggies.

You should definitely use bell peppers, but the other veggie choices are flexible. I like onion and celery in mine. Had mushrooms and a zucchini to use up so they went in too. Snap r snow peas would be excellent instead of the zucchini. I served this over some leftover jasmine rice; perfect but brown rice or rice noodles are great alternative starch options. If you are keto; skip that starch!

Angie’s Teriyaki Pork Stir Fry

Ingredients:

16-20 ounces of pork loin, boneless pork chops or tenderloin

1/2-1 Tsp. meat tenderizer (optional)

2 Tbsp. oil, sunflower oil works well

1 red pepper cut in large dice; I did wide strips top to bottom and then cut into 3 pieces

1 yellow or orange pepper cut the same; large dice

1 med-large onion cut in wide strips and then they get halved

2 celery stalks cut in 3/4 inch chunks; wide bottoms also halved

1 cup chubby zucchini slices cut in quarters to be similar to the peppers

4-6 ounce fresh mushrooms cut into fat slices or chunks.

3-4 scallions cut in 1 inch lengths

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

Sauce: 2.5 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp. honey, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp. rice vinegar, 1 tsp. mirin, 3 Tbsp cold water, 1 Tbsp. cornstarch; mix in a small bowl

Directions: Cut meat into 3/4-inch chunks, cutting off any big globs of fat. Sprinkle with some meat tenderizer if you like to do that. I did. Heat oil in a wok or wide fry pan; I used a large non-stick paella dish; it kind of worked well. Add the meat. Cook 2-3 minutes, stir up to get a new side down to browna little, cook 2 more minutes, stir again and cook another 2 minutes. You want it to reach 146-150 degrees; I actually tested the biggest chunk with my instant read thermometer. Remove meat from pan. Add the peppers, onions and celery. Cook 3 minutes, stirring often. Add zucchini and mushrooms. Cook 2 more minutes. Add scallions and cook a minute. Add garlic and the sauce. Cook about 2 minutes until sauce thickened. I added 1-3 more Tbsp. water as it got too thick and I didn’t want it to burn or for the garlic to taste raw. Maybe next time I will cook the garlic a minute with the veggies in the pan before I add the sauce. Up to you just don’t overcook those veggies; they should be slightly crispy. Serve over hot rice. Enjoy!

Kung Pao Chicken

I had a lot of peppers harvested from my garden and wanted a delicious chicken dish for supper which highlighted them. This is exactly that sort of recipe. I altered one I found on line at Eatingwell and want to share it with you; fall is a great time for peppers! It turned out tender, flavorful and addictively flavored. I will definitely make this again and again.

Notes: I used boneless chicken thighs as they are more flavorful and tender than breasts, the original recipe used a pound of sliced chicken breast so I used 3 large chicken thighs, boneless and skinless. I added more pepper chunks and several other veggies. The recipe I adapted had 2 Tbsp. dry peanuts sprinkled over it at the end. I didn’t have any and I don’t generally put peanuts on my food but you sure can add them. I served it over long grain brown rice made in my Instant Pot pressure cooker; it makes great rice with no fuss. Enjoy!

Angie’s Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients

3 boneless chicken thighs

2 tsp. gf soy sauce, divided

1 tsp. plus 1 Tbsp. dry sherry, divided

2 tsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

2 Tbsp. gf chicken broth

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1 -2 tsp. chili-garlic sauce

2 Tbsp. canola oil, divided

3 slices fresh ginger, smashed

2 medium green peppers cut into 1 inch cubes

1 medium red pepper cut into 1 inch cubes

1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1 inch diagonal slices

1 medium onion cut into skinny vertical slices

1 cup pea pods

4 scallions – white part sliced into rounds and green cut on diagonal into 1 inch slices

1/4 tsp sea salt

Directions: Slice chicken across into 3 or 4 strips and cut them up into 1 inch squares more or less; mix with 2 tsp. soy sauce, a tsp sherry and the cornstarch. Mix until blended and add sesame oil and stir to coat chicken. Let sit while you cut up veggies and mix the following sauce. In a small bowl put rest of soy sauce and sherry, broth, balsamic vinegar, chili sauce (I used one tsp.). Stir to blend.

Heat mini wok over med-high heat; add 1 tbsp. oil and swirl around pan. Add ginger slices and cook about 10 seconds. Push to side and add the chicken pieces; try to get in one layer. Cook without turning for 3 minutes. turn over and cook about 3 more minutes. Transfer them to a medium bowl. Stir in rest of oil and add the veggies you had cut up except the green parts of the scallions. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes. or until they are mostly cooked. Add back the chicken, stir well, sprinkle with green scallion sticks and cook 3 minutes more on med high heat until chicken is done. I actually stuck my instant read thermometer into one of the larger chunks; make sure it is over 165 degrees.

I served this over steamed brown rice but of course, you can do white rice or even rice noodles. Enjoy!

Japanese Eggplants with Ground Chicken or Pork: Delightful!

There is this recipe for chowed eggplant with ground pork that I make often when I can find skinny Japanese eggplants. Chowed means stir fried.  It comes out great every time I make it, slight addiction is my position on this recipe. This latest version uses ground chicken thigh meat instead of ground pork. If you get tired of pork or don’t eat it this is an excellent choice.  I bought it at Valley Farm Markets; their meats can’t be beat for flavor and value! I suppose you can used ground chicken breast too. Anyway, it worked very well.

I added some sticks of fresh zucchini from my garden  and a bit of sliced cabbage.  It was delish for sure. The original recipe is by Jeff Smith, out of his cookbook, The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines; China, Greece and Rome. It is full of great recipes; where I got my potsticker and other dim sum recipes.  No judging here of Chef Smith; just enjoying great food…

Notes; can change out zucchini and or cabbage, for green beans, carrots, pea pods…but you can’t change out the eggplant.  Ground pork is excellent this way as well. Can use yellow onion rather than green if you prefer; cook a bit longer than scallions if you do.  You could also serve this with rice noodles; the wide kind you let soak in boiling hot water for ten minutes; that’s all the cooking it needs.

Angie’s Eggplant with Ground Chicken

1 lb skinny Japanese eggplant

1 tsp salt

½ tsp. light soy sauce, gf

1 ½ tsp. dry sherry or rice wine

½ tsp. grated fresh ginger

½ lob ground chicken, preferably thigh meat

2 tbsp. mild olive oil or peanut oil

2 cloves of garlic minced

3-4 green onions sliced in 1 to 2 inch lengths and cut in half if white part

1 cup zucchini strips; long rectangle shape

2/3-1 cup sliced green cabbage; not too thin

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Pinch sugar

Directions:

Cut unpeeled eggplants into ½ inch thick diagonal slices and cut each in half the long way. Sprinkle with salt, let stand ½ hour draining in a colander.  Pat dry with paper towels.

Mix meat with soy sauce sherry and fresh ginger, let stand 20 to 30 minutes.

Slice or chop veggies.

Heat wok and add 1 tbsp. oil. Add ground meat mixture and flatten a bit; cook until browned lightly; flip over and brown other side; no pink showing; chop up with utensil and set aside.  Add rest of oil and then garlic, cook 30 seconds, add eggplant, cook until it appears more than half done; about 5 minutes; then add zucchini and cabbage, stir for 4-5 minutes, add sesame oil and green onions. Stir a minute, add pinch sugar, wok until cabbage is crisp tender.

eggplant stir fry on plate

Serve with brown or white rice.  I made my brown rice in my handy instant pot pressure cooker.  I did a cup of long grain brown rice, 1 ¼ cup water, 1 tsp. oil, ½ tsp. sea salt; Manual high pressure for 20 or so minutes, ten minutes natural release.  Easy peasy.