Pork with Chillies and Yangzhou Fried Rice - First wok cook

caliking · April 2013

I was planning on doing this tonight or on the weekend, but I couldn't take it anymore. It had to happen last night.

Cobbled together a wok setup using a wok ring and a $4 wok from an estate sale. Set a grid at the firering level, and set the wok ring on it. Fired up the small while I prepped the rest of the meal.

For the fried rice: Well, it was supposed to Yangzhou fried rice ( also called Yang Chow fried rice), but I tweaked the recipe somewhat. Omitted the meat, and added some veg to it. Didn't have leftover rice, so I had to make fresh rice and try to cool/dry it in front of a fan. Clockwise from the rice - mix of crimini, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms. Garlic slices. Eggs beaten with rice wine. Carrots. Scallions.Sesame oil in the middle.

Got the wok nice and hot and added the oil. First fried the garlic, to make a burnt garlic type of fried rice.

Removed the garlic, and made the omelet next. Almost burned it! And my omelet flipping skills aren't that great.

Added the veg + mushrooms. Once the mushrooms were cooked, in went the rice, omelet, and fried garlic.

Now for the pork: Rummaged around in the freezer and found some pork trimmings from the flap meat of spare ribs done a while back.

Marinated them in soy sauce, cornstarch, and rice wine. Found some broccoli in the refrigerator and decided to include that as well. Left to right, top row - marinated pork, broccoli, mushroom mix (same as fried rice); middle row - ginger, red chillies, garlic, toban djan (chili bean sauce); bottom row: bamboo shoots, sauce of chinkiang vinegar, soy, sugar, cornstarch, sesame oil, rice wine.

Things went pretty quickly from here on (well the fried rice went pretty quickly too). Heated up some sesame oil and fried the red chillies, garlic and ginger until just fragrant.

Added the marinated pork and fried for a few minutes. Added the toban djan sauce and cooked for another few minutes. Next, threw in the mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

The sauce was the last to be added. Let it come to a boil for a few minutes for the sauce to thicken. I like the color the broccoli adds.

And the final plated shot:

This cook was a hit in so many ways. SWMBO came outside to watch me having so much fun and said "You know, we should think about making an outdoor kitchen for you." Hell yeah!!! The pork was spectacular - fiery and flavorful, and the fried rice was very tasty. I see many more wok cooks in my future

shtgunal3 · April 2013

OMG!!! I want to eat at your crib! Damn that looks good.

R2Egg2Q · April 2013

Very nice! Looks tasty and I bet the aroma while cooking was incredible as well! =D>

Eggcelsior · April 2013

I like your wife's train of thought. Want to do a Wife Swap episode?

caliking · April 2013

Eggcelsior said:
I like your wife's train of thought. Want to do a Wife Swap episode?

Hell to the no. Yours might make me get rid if some of my cookers!

SkinnyV · April 2013

Nice cook A+

The Cen-Tex Smoker · April 2013

nice Cali. very cool

Eggcelsior · April 2013

caliking said:

Eggcelsior said:
I like your wife's train of thought. Want to do a Wife Swap episode?
Hell to the no. Yours might make me get rid if some of my cookers!

Not with that pool. I've seen your junks on bbq brethren. No wonder she wants an outdoor kitchen. Reverse psychology to get you to put your crap away.

caliking · April 2013

R2Egg2Q said:
Very nice! Looks tasty and I bet the aroma while cooking was incredible as well! =D>

It was! I really enjoyed myself.

caliking · April 2013

@Eggcelsior: I'm not smart enough for reverse psychology to work on me. But I am a hoarder! What's your handle on bbq brethren?

Solson005 · April 2013

Looks great! I wanted to get the wok out this week but we had way to much rain. Which we needed but had to put the wok cook on hold. Hopefully this weekend or early next week. I've got a couple Grace Young recipes I need to try and if they are half as good as the last one I'll be happy.