Ginger Pork Stir-Fry

From Thai Home-Cooking, by William Crawford and Kamolmal Pootaraksa, Penguin, 1985. ISBN 0-452-26133-3.

This is a simple dish which has a great ginger taste without being overbearing. We've always ignored the cloud ears, and used regular soy sauce because we couldn't find dark soy sauce.

Ingredients

1 ounce cloud ears
1 cup warm water
1.5 pounds boneless pork chops or loin
6 ounces ginger root
6 ounces (1.5 cups square-sliced) yellow onion
4 Serrano or Jalapeno chillies (optional)
3T fish sauce
2t sugar
1t black soy sauce
1 cup water
1 bunch green onions, white and green parts
1/4 cup oil
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1/2t ground white pepper

Directions

Soak the cloud ears in the warm water for 15 minutes, until they are soft. Slice the pork across the grain into strips approximately 1/8"x1/2"x2". Peel the ginger root and slice it crosswise into thin pieces. Peel the yellow onion, remove the root portion and slice it into 1/2-inch squares. Drain the cloud ears, cut them into pieces about the size of the yellow onion. Stem and seed the chillies (leave the seeds in if you want it hot), and slice them lengthwise into very thin strips. Put the onion, ginger, cloud ears and chillies together in a bowl. Mix the fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce and water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Slice the green onions diagonally into pieces 1 inch long and set aside.

Heat a wok (or heavy frying pan), add the oil and swirl it over the surface of the pan. Add the garlic and stir-fry until it is light golden. Add the pork and stir-fry until the pink color disappears. Add the ingredients from the bowl (ginger et al), and stir-fry until the onion is translucent. Add the fish sauce mixture, and bring to a boil rapidly. Add the green onions and stir briefly. They should be just hot and crisp-tender. Sprinkle with the white pepper before serving.

Serves 4 to 6.

Jim Plank

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