chinese pork + vegetable stir fry | tasty + quick + the perfect midweek meal

The ultimate trick to cooking a good stir fry is all in the pan and the high heat. I would love to get my hands on a commercial wok like they use in restaurants. I’ve always loved watching the chefs toss the ingredients high in the air and adding in the oil and sauces using those long soup spoon thingymabobs. How good.

Now this is the ultimate stir fry – tasty, quick to cook and healthy. Made using pork loin, it’s good for you and you can add as many different types of veggies as you like. Serve it up with some rice or noodles and dig out the choppies. The flavours are spot on and it really does taste as good as any dish you would find in an Asian restaurant.

If you haven’t cooked with pork loin before, because you haven’t known what to do with it, then this is the dish for you. Pork loin is similar to the eye fillet of beef or the lamb backstrap cut of meat, meaning that it can be cooked quickly as it isn’t tough. Slicing the pork very thinly also means that the meat cooks the minute it hits the hot wok. Did I mention to slice the pork thinly? This is important!

You can also make this dish as spicy as you want but I prefer to serve it with extra chilli for Cork Daddy and I cause the girls love eating it too. This means that it makes for an easy and quick family mid week meal.

I must admit – they do pick out the pieces of bok choy.

chinese pork + vegetable stir fry (feeds 2 adults + 2 children)

1 x 450 gram piece of pork loin, cut in to VERY THIN slices
Fresh ginger, a piece the size of a 20 cent coin, peeled and grated
2 x cloves of fresh garlic, crushed
1/2 x red chilli, seeds removed and finely sliced (serve with the extra chilli if desired)
1 x tablespoon of Chinese Shao Shing cooking wine (or rice wine vinegar is also fine)
A very light dash of Sesame oil (be careful as it is very strong and should be used sparingly)
1 x tablespoon of soy sauce, plus an extra drizzle for the cooked dish
1/2 teaspoon of Chinese five spice
A splash of vegetable oil
1 x tablespoon of hoisin sauce
1 x small red capsicum, sliced thinly
3 x baby bok choy, (washed, ends removed, hard stems chopped and leaves kept seperate – see image below)
A handful of snow peas, ended discarded and cut in to 3
3 x spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
Salt and pepper
Cooked jasmine rice, to serve
Fresh coriander, to serve

Add the very thinly sliced pork to a small bowl along with the ginger, garlic, chilli, cooking wine, sesame oil, soy sauce and Chinese five spice. Mix with a spoon, pop some glad wrap over the bowl and place in the fridge to marinate. (This can be left overnight or for a minimum of 20 minutes. The longer it marinades, the better).
Add a dash of vegetable oil to a wok (or large non stick fry pan) and heat over a high heat.
Place 1/3 of the pork in the pan and cook until the meat goes from being a pink ‘raw’ colour to a cooked ‘grey’ colour. Reserve on to a clean plate and continue to cook all of the meat. Season the meat with salt and pepper as you go.
Add the capsicum, snow peas, and the hard ends of the bok choy to the wok and stir fry over a high heat. Add a splash of water to help the vegetables along a bit.
Next add the hoisin sauce.
Once the veggies are looking nearly ready, add the pork back to the pan, the spring onions and the leaves of the bok choy and continue to stir in the wok until the leaves have just wilted. Drizzle a little bit more soy sauce over the dish.
Serve straight away with the steamed rice, fresh coriander leaves and extra chilli if desired.

Lo’s tips

The key to wok cooking is to have it on the highest heat possible and to cook it quickly. Have all of the ingredients ready to go.
The pork really does need to be very finely sliced.
You can marinate the pork the day before you want to cook the stir fry so that the flavours have longer to develop.
Obviously up the sauce ingredients if you are using more meat or extra veggies.