Serving
(click to enlarge)

Pork & Water Spinach (Ong Choy)
China

Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:
3 w/rice
**
1-1/4 hr
Part

Ong Choy is quite popular in Asian communities, and makes a fairly simple stir fry with good flavor and interesting texture. Authenticity: In China the amount of pork would be about half what is given here - see Western Adoption of Asian Food.



1
1
1-1/2
1
1
4
2
8
2
3/4
1
tt
#
T
T
T
#
oz
cl
oz
T
c
T
Pork lean
Cornstarch
Soy Sauce
Rice Wine (1)
Ong Choy
Onion
Garlic
Tomato
Oil
Water
Shrimp paste (1)
Salt
    Prep
  1. Slice PORK into 1/8 inch thick strips about 2" long by 1/2" wide. Mix with Cornstarch, Soy Sauce and Rice Wine and let marinade for 3/4 hour.
  2. Strip Leaves from ONG CHOY and tear them into 2 inch lengths with the stem removed. Discard any oversized stem ends and cut all stems including leaf stems into about 1-1/2 inch lengths and keep separate from leaves.
  3. Peel ONION and cut in half lengthwise, then slice thin crosswise.
  4. Crush and chop GARLIC fine.
  5. Peel TOMATO and cut into medium dice.
  6. RUN
  7. Heat OIL very hot in a wok and sir in Pork. Fry stirring until pork loses its raw color and starts to brown being careful not to burn the fond that sticks to the wok. Remove and set aside to drain excess oil.
  8. Add more Oil if needed and fry Onion until almost translucent, then stir in Garlic and fry stirring a bit longer being careful not to burn the fond adhering to the pan.
  9. Stir in Ong Choy Stems and Tomato, then Water. Cover and simmer stirring occasionally until Ong Choy stems are tender (about 4 minutes - the bigest ones will remain just a bit crisp).
  10. Stir in the Ong Choy Leaves and after they have wilted (about 2 minutes) stir in the the Pork. Simmer stirring occasionaly until pork is well incorporated and hot.
  11. Stir in Shrimp Paste. Adjust liquid (not too dry if it's going with rice) and Salt to taste (if any is needed).
  12. Serve hot with rice.
NOTES:
  1. Rice Wine: Use a drinkable grade of Chinese rice wine (the cooking versions are salted and not that good). If you don't have the rice wine use a dry sherry.
  2. Shrimp Paste Chinese black shrimp paste for authenticity but Southeast Asian pastes will work fine if that's what you have.
  3. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch
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