Sticky Chinese Pork

Easy, quick and delicious best describes this dish!  Of all the Asian cuisines, I’d have to say Chinese is my favorite.  The food in most Chinese dishes is prepared in bite-sized pieces, ready for direct picking up and eating.  Traditional Chinese cuisine is also based on opposites (yin and yang) whereby hot balances cold, pickled balances fresh and spicy balances mild.  Cantonese cuisine, from the South of China, is what most people from Western cultures associate Chinese food to be but it’s much more than this.  The regional cuisines of China is divided geographically to include:  Northern or Beijing (Peking) Cuisine,  Eastern or Shanghai Cuisine, Western or Szechuan Cuisine, and Southern or Cantonese Cuisine.

In the North, instead of rice, wheat is the staple grain, and noodles made from wheat flour is found in many meals. Steamed dumplings and pancakes are also popular. Mutton is frequently consumed, and is the chief ingredient in Mongolian Hot Pot.

Eastern China grows both rice and wheat – rice in the subtropical climate to the south, wheat in the colder northern area that includes Shanghai.  There are a few features that characterize all eastern cooking, such as the liberal use of sugar to sweeten dishes. Eastern China is also famous for “red-cooking” – a process whereby meat is slowly simmered in dark soy sauce, imparting a reddish tinge to the final product.

The landlocked, mountain range of Szechuan province developed a cuisine distinct from other Chinese cooking styles which was heavily influenced by the foreigners journeying along China’s famous “Silk Route.”  Buddhist missionaries introduced them to the spicing that characterizes Indian cuisine, which chefs replicated by making liberal use of Szechuan pepper. (Szechuan peppercorn is one of the ingredients in five spice powder).  Szechuan cooks prefer pungently flavored vegetables such as garlic and onions.

Southern/Cantonese cuisine specialize in stir-frying, steaming, and roasting a wide variety of meats, poultry, and seafood.  Roasted and barbecued meats are hot sellers at restaurants and meat shops, since most Chinese kitchens do not have ovens.

Bok choy is an excellent vegetable for weight management because it only has 4 calories per serving and is fiber rich. It has more calcium and beta-carotene than its other cabbage relatives and is also high in potassium, folate and Vitamins A, C and K.

Serves 4
recipe from Delicious magazine
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2 pork tenderloins (500g), cut into 2.5cm cubes
60ml (1/4 cup) light soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons five-spice powder
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 red capsicum (bell pepper), thinly sliced
60g snow peas, trimmed, thinly sliced lengthways
2 heads of bok choy, halved
50g bean sprouts, trimmed
toasted sesame seeds, to serve

Place pork in a bowl with soy, sesame oil, five-spice, garlic, ginger and honey.  Toss to combine, then set aside for 10 minutes.   Heat half the oil in a large frypan or wok over high heat.  Stir-fry capsicum and snow peas for 1-2 minutes until just tender.  Add bok choy and cook for a further minute.  Transfer vegetables to a bowl and set aside.  Heat remaining oil in the same pan/wok over medium-low heat.  Drain the pork, reserving marinade.  Cook pork in batches for 1-2 minutes until light golden.  Add reserved marinade and allow to bubble for 3-5 minutes until reduced and sticky.

Return vegetables to the pan/wok with the pork, tossing gently to combine.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

The Culinary Chase’s Note:  The kitchen was filled with beautiful aromas! Make sure to thoroughly rinse off the bok choy as the dirt can get inside the stems.  Choose smaller bok choy as the larger ones aren’t as sweet.  Make sure the stems are just tender and the leaves slightly wilted.