Saturday, March 5, 2011

Chilli Pork and Asparagus Stirfry



I spent all of my childhood and most of my early adult life refusing to eat Asparagus and it's no wonder when my only experiences of Asparagus were based entirely on the tinned variety. You see, my mother loves Asparagus but can rarely afford to by the fresh variety so she would buy the tinned version. My father would always refer to it as 'Sparrow's Guts' and given the look, the feel, the smell and the taste of it I always agreed with him.

It wasn't until I worked in an organic fruit & vege store that I was convinced to give the fresh variety a go. I even tasted it raw and a whole new world has since opened up to me. I no longer think of the slimy looking mess that my mother eats- I think of crisp, fresh greens that are delightful with butter, great steamed and add a new dimension to a stirfry.

I can, however, understand why my mother rarely buys fresh as they can be rather expensive- unless you grow them yourself.  But given that this a stirfry- a dish that lends itself to adaption due to its great simplicity- you can vary the quantity that you use if necessary. I find that if fresh Asparagus is on special, then this is the dish I go for and I use the full quantity- 2 bunches- as suggested. If it's not on special but I feel like this dish anyway I cut down the quantity by half and substitute a handful of snow peas, sugar peas or- even cheaper- some fresh green beans and it works just fine.

Ingredients:-
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Oil- The recipe suggests Canola oil but I have an aversion to this as a lot of it is GM and I won't use it. I substitute peanut oil because it has a high smoking point and is great for stirfrys. It may add a slight nutty taste but that's just my preference
600g pork fillets, thinly sliced- I don't always thinnly slice but again that is my preference
3 garlic gloves chopped
2 small red chillies, chopped
1 Tablespoon of fish sauce
2 Tablespoons of oyster sauce
1/4 Cup of chicken stock
2 Bunches of FRESH Asparagus trimmed and sliced diagonally- DO NOT even think about using tinned Asparagus
125g cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 Cup Thai basil ( or standard basil) leaves
Steamed rice to serve- The recipe suggests Jasmine but I use Basmati purely because it has a lower GI value

Heat your wok and then add the oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the pork in batches frying for 1-2 minutes until brown then place aside to drain. Add a little more oil and add the garlic and chilli frying for about a minute or until fragrant. Add the fish sauce, oyster sauce and chicken stock. Return the pork to the wok and stirfry until the pork is coated with the sauce. Add the Asparagus and stirfry only for a minute or two. The Asparagus should go a bright green and slightly tender. (When cutting asparagus always use your hands to snap off the ends. Let it snap naturally and you will find that you won't get any woody, stringy Asparagus). Add tomato and basil and stir fry until tomato is tender. Serve over rice with a few leaves of basil to garnish.

This recipe comes from the Woolworths Good Taste magazine and I chose it as I particularly like stirfrys because they are easy- One wok, a saucepan for the rice, a chopping board:- that's all you need. And the sauce for this one is rather nice. I have supplemented chicken for pork once just to try it but it doesn't work quite the same so I have since stuck to the original recipe- pretty much. As I said before you can- and I have- substituted snow peas, beans or sugar snap peas for Asparagus, just don't use tinned or frozen vegies for this one as it will spoil it.

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