June 27, 2008

Hot and Sour Pork with Celery


Mmmm..Chinese food. Who doesnt love chinese food!? My family and I are great fans, we could eat almost everything if its made the Chinese way. The theme for AWED this month is Chinese and that made me hunt for Chinese cookbooks at the library. And I just found three books, but they were gems!! In one of those books I made a great discovery that it was by the famous restaurateur Leeann Chin who has several namesake restaurants around Minneapolis and a few other states. I've always enjoyed eating out at her restaurant, maybe thats why I wanted to try all ..... and I mean you cannot really choose .... all of the recipes from her book. I had some pork at hand and decided on making hot and sour pork with celery. When I try to do wannabe chinese, without a recipe, I just dump a few sauces in and be content with what I get. But with this recipe, I followed the recipe exactly, and what a difference it made! It simply was awesome! I would suggest this recipe to anyone in a heartbeat! For non-pork eaters, the book mentions that pork can be substituted with chicken. I just though I would mention it so that many more of you can enjoy! Since this is a non-veg dish, I cannot send it for the event, but I am only happy to find another vegetarian recipe from her cookbook!! :-) Enjoy your weekend everyone!


Recipe (Serves 4) :

Pork tenderloin - 8 oz
salt - 1/2 tsp, divided
White pepper - a pinch
Cornstarch - 1 tsp
Hot red chilli pepper - 1
Celery stalks - 8
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp
Minced garlic - 2 tsp
White vinegar - 2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Light soy sauce - 1 tsp
Sesame oil - 2 tsp

Method:

Cut the pork into thin matchsticks 2 by 1/8 by 1/8 inch.

Toss in a bowl with 1/4 tsp salt, the pepper and cornstarch.

Cut open the chilli pepper and remove the seeds, then cut into thin 2" strips.

Remove and discard the celery leaves and the stringy stalks.

Cut the stalks into 2 by 1/4 inch.

Heat a wok or skillet over high heat and add the vegetable oil, garlic, celery and remaining 1/4 tsp salt.

Stir fry for 30 seconds and add the marinated pork strips.

Turn the heat down to medium and stir-fry for an additional 2 minutes.

Add the vinegar, sugar, soysauce, sesame oil and chilli pepper.

Stir fry over high heat for 1 more minute.

Serve hot or cold.

Source: Everyday Chinese by Leeann Chin and Katie Chin.


Tips:

  1. Chicken can be used instead of pork, in this recipe.
  2. I used a small serrano pepper in place of hot red chilli.
  3. Distilled vinegar was used as the white vinegar.
  4. It is a good accompaniment to Noodles with Peanut sauce which I will share with you once I try it out!

Try this out friends, you wont be disappointed.

I was tagged by Sailaja of Sailaja's recipes for a meme. Since I did the meme just a week back, I am hereby redirecting eveyone to that post. Read my meme here. Anyone who is interested can take up this meme.

My blog was given a giant bear hug by Vani of Illatharasi. Thank you sooo much Vani, I am so happy that you like my blog!!



I would like to pass the hug to,

Ranji of Ranji's Kitchen Corner
Bhags of Crazy curry
Shubha of Chutki Bhar Pyar who badly needs a hug
Laavanya of
Cookery Corner
Sailaja of
Sailaja's recipes

Once again, have a great weekend everyone! Oh, one more thing, my wrist is feeling much better now, thanks for all your concern! Your comments themselves made it all the more bearable! :-) Hugs!

I am sending this to Eat Healthy - Protein Rich event at Sangeeth's Art of Cooking Indian Food.

18 comments:

Sailaja said...

Hi JZ,

Thanks a lot for passing the award to me. I am really flattered.

Pictures are too good.Since I am a vegetarian I cannot try this dish.


-Sailaja

Laavanya said...

Interesting recipe.. will see if I can try that with paneer or cauliflower or tofu.

Thank you so much JZ for the Hug :) It made my day. Have a good weekend ahead.

Sum Raj said...

ur presentation is too good with a curl decoration...i never eat pork but luv to c the presentation..

ranji said...

Awwwww that hug felt goood...I think u left ur hand marks on my back ;)..Thank u so much sweets..congrats to u too..u should get them all ..

i love hot and sour dishes..this ones looks really good..perfect stirfry...have to replace pork with chicken or potaoes..they will go gr8 as well :)...

Rachel said...

Am I salivating on this or what now??? :D

Great presentation!

FH said...

We had roast pork, mashed potato and salad for Sunday lunch. Hot and sour sounds great JZ, yum!:)

Enjoy your award. Glad your wrist is better now girl! Have a fun weekend, see ya on Monday!Might go and see Angelina Jolie's movie this weekend!:))

Cham said...

Looks really tasty! Congrats on your award

bha said...

thanks for the big hug...much needed...:)

do u intend to send this one to AWED Chinese?

Dori said...

It's cute the way you presented it :) Sounds tasty!

Sujatha said...

I'm drooling already, JZ! looks yummy.. I will surely try this with chicken, Thanks for sharing :)

FH said...

Made your yummilicious Paneer Tikka, will link next Wednesday! Thank you for the recipe!:))

Srikitchen said...

thatz looking good.. you drop my blog. something is there for u...

Illatharasi said...

Very good recipe with wonderful presentation:)

Congrats for the award!

Lore said...

Congrats on the award! As for the recipe, I usually don't eat pork and am now wondering WHY??? I'm sure I'd love this dish just too bad we can't easily find celery stalks around here, only celery roots.

ST said...

Looks tasty....Love the presentation.Congrats on ur award

@the_whisk_affair said...

Hey Sailaja, enjoy ur hug! and try this with some mixed vegetables..

Laavanya, i'm glad u enjoyed my hug, do let me know once u try it!!

Thanks a lot Suma, Ranji and Rachel! Ranji, let me know how it turned out!!

Asha, sounds like u had a fantastic lunch! and great weekend plans! Have a great time!!

Thanks Cham, Bhags and Meeso! No bhags, since this is non-veg, I cannot send it to AWED.

Thanks Sujatha and Asha!! Asha I am elated that u tried a recipe from my blog! Thanks again...

Thanks Srilekha and Illatharasi!!

I am sorry that you dont get celery stalks there lore...hope you'll get to try it out sometime..

Thanks a lot Sireesha!! :-)

Sig said...

Here is that pork dish... Looks yummy! I love everything pork, especially Chinese dishes, this recipe is bookmarked...

Shubha Ravikoti said...

Hey JZ... I am so sorry to reply to this ost like after 2 months... I really appreciate the hug.. and i thank u soo much dear for being there.....
:)