Five Spice Pork Noodles

Got this recipe from the July 2011 issue of Yummy Magazine.   This particular issue was such a gem – I’m able to try 3 recipes already, all from this same magazine!     This one is my 4th, and I used my Saladmaster gourmet pan to make this (although the Wok Pan would be perfect for this).

It’s my first time to prepare an egg noodle dish and am glad this one’s fairly easy to follow.  Just have all the ingredients ready in advance because cooking time is a measly 8 minutes and you wouldn’t want to overcook everything.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 250g boneless pork loin or tenderloin, sliced thinly
• 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
• 1 red onion, cut into thin wedges (I suggest you use a big one as it adds flavor to the dish, or 2 if you have the small ones)
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 220g egg noodles, cooked according to package directions, drained
• 1 bunch bokchoy (Taiwan Pechay), trimmed, stems and leaves chopped
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp dry sherry or Shaoxing wine (we couldn’t find this in the grocery so we used Rice Wine instead)
• salt and pepper

First, we pre-heat the Saladmaster gourmet pan (medium heat) until the test water is mercurized (meaning, when you place a drop of water in the pan, it will not be absorbed directly by the heat but rather it will “mercurized” until gone).

In a pre-heat pan, put a very small amount of cooking oil (about 1/2 tbsp of olive oil), then stir-fry pork marinaded with spice, salt and pepper for 3 minutes or until well-browned.  Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Using the remaining oil in the pan, stir-fry onion, bell pepper, ginger and garlic for about 2 minutes or until just tender.

Return pork and mix together with the vegetable.

Add the cooked and drained egg noodles, bokchoy stems, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and sherry or Shaoxing wine.    Stir fry for 1-2 minutes, to heat through.

Add the bokchoy leaves, tossing for 1 minute or until wilted.

Tip from Yummy Magazine:  to save on time, mince garlic and ginger ahead, submerge in olive oil in separate bottles, and keep in the refrigerator.   They’ll last for about 3 days.

The result was a very flavorful dish that reminds me so much of the Asian Noodles I always have at World of Chicken.

The red bell peppers (I’d like  to add more of these next time) and red onions really enhanced the flavor of this noodle dish.  The Chinese five spice powder was kinda strong though, and that’s because it has star anise in it.    The recipe actually called for 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder to be marinaded with the pork, and the result was a bit bitter pork strips.   So I strongly suggest you use very little of this, and season your pork with more of salt and pepper instead.

Thankfully, the noodles didn’t taste strongly of star anise!   Just a mildly strong one and that’s fine with me hehe!   AJ liked it as it is, though  =)

I’d like to do this again next time (with chicken!) and I’m thinking of adding green bell peppers for more color!

On cooking with a Saladmaster gourmet pan, you will notice that the pork will tend to stick with the pan the first time you put it (because we used very little of cooking oil) but that’s okey, as you stir along and the pork turns lightly browned it will no longer stick with the pan.

One thing I noticed, though:  the recipe called for high heat, but I used only a medium heat (because I’m still new with Saladmaster).  But surprisingly, the effect was just the same – the dish was cooked in about 8 minutes, just as indicated in the recipe.   Heat really distributes fast and evenly with Saladmaster.  As a result, we saved on cooking gas consumption!   Yehey!