baby rambutan

we have a tiny little patch of a vegetable garden outside, with a couple of hopeful tomato big boys, a couple of long peppers, and our annually-enhanced, pocket-handkerchief-size herb garden.

#2 son has been taking good care of them and we’ve just harvested two peppers. as in two pieces.
i automatically thought of this recipe from Ken Hom’s The Taste of China (where it is billed as “Pickled Chilies with Pork”), something easy to make, not to mention quick, yet quite substantial in flavor, not too spicy but bold enough in flavor to make you want to eat bite after bite.

it made me remember Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet, remember him? he used to have a cooking show on PBS. although he often was quite annoying with his squeaky talkativeness i did appreciate his spotlighting Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisine. it was from him i learned about the holy triumvirate of flavors that distinguish Chinese cooking: garlic, ginger, rice wine.

this dish just truly exemplifies those flavors. and we got to eat our home-grown produce!
#2 son was very proud!

for the marinade:
1/2 pound lean boneless pork
2 tsps. light soy sauce
1 tsp. dark soy sauce
1 tsp. rice wine or dry sherry
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. cornstarch

for the stir-fry:
4 ozs. mild red or green chilies(we used both-augmented by store-bought cubanelle and cowhorn peppers)
6 scallions
1 & 1/2 tbsps. peanut oil
1 tbsp. finely minced garlic
2 tsps. finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. salt

for the sauce:
2 tsps. light soy sauce
2 tsps. rice wine
2 tsps. white rice vinegar
1 tsp. sugar

cut the pork into thin slices, about 1/8 inch by 3 inches long. in a medium-sized bowl, combine the pork with the marinade ingredients. set aside.

cut the chilies in half and remove the seeds and slice them into thin shreds. with the flat of the knife or cleaver, crush the scallions and shred them.

heat a wok or large skillet until it is hot. add the oil, then the garlic, ginger, chili flakes, and salt and stir-fry for 10 seconds. then add the pork and continue to stir-fry for 1 minute. now add the chilies and scallions, stir-fry for 1 minute, and add the sauce ingredients.

continue to stir-fry for 2 minutes or until all the liquid has evaporated. serve at once.

also starring, in our garden:

hopeful bigboy tomatoes

fragrant sampaguita pot from sis-in-law#2

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 6:07 pm and is filed under mammals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.