By Marion Nowak, Blue Kitchen
Serves 2
1/2 pound boneless pork (see Kitchen Notes)
1 big clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin (or dry white wine) [editor's note: may substitute cooking wine]
2 tablespoons Korean red pepper paste (or to taste – see Kitchen Notes)
1/2-inch piece of ginger, crushed
1 tablespoon water
1/2 pound green beans
Canola oil
cooked white rice
1. Slice the pork into thin 2-inch-long slivers. Mix together the crushed garlic, soy sauce, mirin, red pepper paste, water, and ginger in a small bowl. Put in the pork, stir everything together, cover, and refrigerate. You can do this in the morning before you leave for work. Marinate for at least half an hour and up to all day.
2. When you get home from work, wash and trim the green beans. If you like, you can slice into 2-inch pieces. Take the bowl out of the fridge.
3. Start the rice before you start cooking the stir fry – white rice takes a few minutes more to cook than does this dish.
3. Heat canola oil in a skillet or wok until it is shimmering hot. First, sauté the green beans on high heat for about 90 seconds, or until they are crunchy-blistery ready. Scoop them out of the pan and reserve.
4. Add a little more oil to the pan, heat. Drain most of the marinade from the meat (you want just enough left to lightly cloak everything in the cooking pan, not to make a liquid sauce); discard whatever you are not using as well as the garlic and ginger chunks. Then, all at once, toss the pork into the pan, shake it, and cook rapidly. When the pork is generally browned but not quite done, return the green beans to the pan. Stir everything for another 45 seconds or so. When everything is heated through, turn off the heat. You are done. Serve over fresh hot rice.
Kitchen Notes
Pork meat. Boneless pork chops thinly sliced work fine for this dish. Some stores also carry pork meat pre-cut for stir-frying.
Hot hot heat. I thought this was modestly hot. If you really don’t care for spicy food, omit the red pepper paste. If you love spice, amp it up with more red pepper paste or a dash of hot oil or chili paste or Sriracha. The next time I make this, I will be tossing in one of these spicy extras.
Veganomics. Yes, you can also use tofu rather than animal protein. I recommend using extra-firm tofu, cut into 1-1/2” cubes. Marinate it for maybe 15 or 20 minutes (not all day), then sauté so it lightly browns on all sides. When you add the green beans back to the dish, toss everything together gently, please.
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