Thai Pork Stir Fry

I haven’t been eating out much lately, due to a couple of gluten cross-contamination incidents that have laid me flat. Such is the reality of living with celiac disease – every pot, pan and surface is suspect if outside your control. A mere morsel of gluten left inside a wok can make me ill for several days, making eating out a lot less exciting (unless you find several days of migraines, brain-fog and stomach ache thrilling).

This week, I was really missing our favorite chicken Ga Prow Kai stir fry from Thai Spice. It’s a classic Thai dish with both heat and a hint of sweetness, liberally spiked with wonderful Thai Basil, served over rice and topped with a wok-fried egg. I had neither chicken nor Thai basil in the house, but I did manage to hit the essence of my favorite dish, even if I lacked the high-heat searing of  a restaurant wok.  The trick of making stir fry at home is in cooking the individual components separately (using the largest flat-bottom skillet you have), so that you don’t crowd the pan and steam the food instead. Take it slow, and try separating the elements of your stir fry into batches so that everything is cooked perfectly, then put it all together with your sauce right at the end.

What’s your favorite way to wok-up a stir-fry at home? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thai Pork Stir Fry

Serves 4

1 lb lean ground pork

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 large carrot, peeled and sliced thin

1 bell pepper, sliced

2 tsp grapeseed oil, divided

1 large shallot, sliced

1 jalepeno, seeded and sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T fish sauce, divided

1 T fresh ginger, grated, divided

2 T cooking sherry

1 T honey

1 T hoisin sauce

2 T chili garlic sauce

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

2 scallions, sliced

1. Crumble the pork into a bowl. Pour 1T of the fish sauce and half of the ginger over the pork and mix gently with your hands. Set aside (and wash your hands).
2. In a small bowl, combine 1 T fish sauce, 1 1/2tsp grated ginger, 2 T sherry, 2 T chili garlic sauce, 1 T hoisin and 1T honey and stir, dissolving the honey into the liquids. Set aside.
3. Heat a 12″ non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1tsp oil, then add the onion, carrot and bell pepper. Saute for 3-4 minutes, until the carrots begin to soften, but still have a little crunch. Scoop the veggies out of the pan and into a bowl and set aside.
4. Turn the burner down to medium low, and return the pan to the heat. Add the last teaspoon of oil to pan, then add the sliced shallot and jalepeno and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the heat low enough so that you don’t burn the aromatics.
5. Turn the burner up to medium. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30sec. Add the pork to the pan, and stir. Brown the meat until cooked through, the add the vegetables back to the pan and pour the sauce over the meat & veggies. Stir to combine, then add the cilantro and scallions and serve over brown rice.

260 cal per serving (excluding brown rice), 60 cal from fat, 6.5g fat, 90mg cholesterol, 1080mg sodium, 130mg potassium, 15g carbs, 2g fiber, 40g protein