Mongolian Pork

I think there were flames coming out of my mouth at dinner tonight.  I made Mongolian Pork.  The recipe is actually called Sweet, Spicy, Sticky Chicken and it's from allrecipes.com but I decided to try it with pork tonight.  Aside from chicken, the original recipe also calls for fresh ginger and garlic which is also nice, but tonight I didn't feel like having chunks of ginger and garlic in the sauce so I went with the powders.

I'm calling it Mongolian Pork because I think the sauce tastes a heck of a lot like the "Mongolian" sauce that our favorite Mongolian Grill restaurant uses.  I use the quotations because I have no idea what Mongolian food is actually like and I don't really trust your average Mongolian grill chain restaurant with authentic ethnic food.  Can you blame me?  Does anyone know what real Mongolian food is like?

So if you've never been to a Mongolian Grill and have no idea what the sauce might taste like, I suppose the original name for the dish might be more descriptive, though more cumbersome to say, unless you love alliterations. 

Mongolian Pork (Or Chicken or whatever meat you choose)
adapted from here

Ingredients

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsps honey

1/4 c soy sauce

2 tsp ginger powder

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp sriracha sauce (though I might use 1 tbsp next time so that I don't have to feel pain during dinner)

1/3 c + 1tsp cornstarch

salt and pepper to taste

1lb boneless pork pieces cut into cubes

2 tbsp oil

Method

1.  Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger powder, garlic powder, sriracha sauce (I imagine any hot sauce will do just fine), and 1 tsp cornstarch (use non gmo!).  Set aside.

2.  Heat the oil in a stainless steel skillet or pot, preferably a large one.  I'd say keep the heat between low and medium.  If you have a good stainless steel skillet you won't need it any hotter.  If your pan is too hot everything will stick and burn.  If you try to use nonstick I don't think your pork will brown and crisp as nicely.

3.  Dredge the pork in the remaining cornstarch until it's completely white.

4.  Fry the pork in the oil until all sides are light brown and crispy and the pork is completely done.  If there's a lot of oil left in the pan, drain it out.

5.  Lower your heat and add the liquid mixture from step 1 to your fried pork.  Mix everything together and let it bubble a bit until the mixture thickens and all the pork is coated. 

That's it!

Top with nuts if you like and serve over hot rice or noodles.

I would imagine that this recipe would work well if you added some sliced veggies in with the pork or if you decided to stir fry everything instead.  I do the cornstarch dredging because I like the crispy texture underneath the sauce.  The texture is sort of like a Chinese sweet and sour pork.  Though I may try doing the stir fry thing in a wok next time because it would be healthier. 

Try it out!  If you're a fan of spicy Chinese food I think you'll like this.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Dear God,

  thank you for a healthy 14 week old baby in utero.  Please keep him or her safe until it's time to come out and please protect all the babies in their mother's wombs all throughout the world.  Please bless the efforts of everyone participating in 40 days for life.  Amen.