Thursday, August 18, 2011

So Easy: Pork & Mango Stir-Fry

The word "pork" is usually enough to make any recipe catch my eye. Add "mango" to that title, and that recipe just rocketed to the top of my list. There seemed to be enough going on in the Pork and Mango Stir-Fry (pg 129) that I thought it would have good flavor, and be a little different because of that mango. I stand corrected.

This is a fairly standard stir-fry, so I won't go into too much detail as to the steps. Cook the pork, remove it from the wok, then cook red onion, red pepper, fresh ginger, garlic, and snow peas. I used this gorgeous bag of teeny rainbow peppers that I bought last weekend at the farmer's market instead of one big red pepper.
 Once they're softening, add in chicken broth with corn starch, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, Chinese five spice powder, and crushed red pepper flakes. Chunks of mango go in for the last minute.
This got us to eat a lot of veg, but it was bland.
Me: I already know I won't make this again, but what do you think of it?
Matt: Totally flavorless.

Ouch.

Conclusion: Just okay. I hope these recipes improve soon.

5 comments:

  1. Oh, no! This recipe sounded like it should've had a ton of flavor. Too bad.

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  2. It sounds like this recipe might be missing a base of sauteed onions/garlic and ginger, then some brown sugar added at the end to bring out the sweetness. Probably would also benefit from a squeeze of lime at the end. A recipe like this really should not end up being so bland- sounds like something is wrong with the recipe, esp. the cooking time. Simmering this for even a few minutes too long would simmer out most of the spice and flavor.

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  3. Just noticed the recipe called for onions/garlic/ginger- that is weird that it was bland- I wonder how that is possible. I think it needed some sweetness and more spice- a touch of Lyle's syrup , lime, and more red pepper perhaps. A recipe like this would also benefit from a classic condiment- Indian or Jamaican fruit chutney- to be served alongside it. This is what I'm thinking:
    http://www.bushabrowne.com/

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  4. looking back at the recipe, I can see one thing that sounds wrong. If you cook the pork first, it will not have a chance to soak up any flavor of the spices that are added afterwards, once the pork has effectively been "sealed" it won't soak in much flavor. If the pork was NOT marinated in a spice mix first- i.e., soy,ginger,crushed garlic ,peppers,lime,brown sugar,(molasses or Lyles would work too), rice wine- before stir fry -the result would be even worse. I think this recipe needs to be overhauled - the ingredients seem good but pork really needs to be marinated and seasoned before stir fry. Also that bushabrown banana chutney is really amazing on pork.

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  5. Thank you so much for letting us know this easy Pork Stir Fry with mango. I like your recipe so I will try to cook it on my Birthday. I hope I can make it perfect like yours. Keep on sharing!

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