My first Asian...

I recently had a friend cook some curry for me. I really loved it. Not many people in my area like curry or Indian but I really do. This inspired me to try the recipe, but I needed a wok. About three weeks ago, I bought a wok.

I was supposed to see a friend tonight so I figured I would cook dinner for him. He's apparently a picky eater so looking around at recipes I decided, who doesn't like Chinese? I found a recipe for Sweet and Sour Pork.

Ingredients

1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons sugar, plus a pinch
3 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
3 scallions, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 cups snow peas, cut in half

Directions

Toss the pork with 1/2 tablespoon vinegar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar, the soy sauce, cornstarch, ketchup, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1/3 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt in another bowl.

Heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add the pork and slowly stir until it turns mostly opaque, about 2 minutes. Remove the pork with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate. Discard the oil and wipe out the skillet.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon peanut oil in the skillet, then stir-fry the garlic with a pinch each of salt and sugar, 15 seconds. Add the carrots and scallions and stir-fry until crisp-tender, 2 minutes. (Add a little water if the garlic starts to stick to the skillet.) Add the pork, snow peas and soy sauce mixture; stir until the pork is cooked through and the sauce is thickened, about 3 minutes.

Per serving: Calories 348; Fat 15 g (Saturated 3 g); Cholesterol 74 mg; Sodium 674 mg; Carbohydrate 27 g; Fiber 4 g; Protein 28 g

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/sweet-and-sour-pork-recipe/index.html

I am the kind of person who loves fresh. If I had it my way, everything I bought would not only be fresh but also organic. Unfortunately, being an adult and all of those silly bills I can't afford organic all the time. However, I love going to market and I can pick up some of the best things there for cheaper than in the grocery store.

The Eastern Market is open every Friday from 6am to 6pm, but is the best market in York to get fresh fruits and vege as well as prepared food, meats, cheese, and maple donuts. I got my scallions, pork, and peas here. I substituted snow peas with snap peas because I couldn't find any snow peas.

So my friend ended up not being able to join me for dinner but I decided to cook anyway. I put on my spotify to some All Time Low for a few reasons. Firstly, work was pretty ridiculous tonight and I've been sick today, my body is achey. All Time Low makes me want to dance and their fun pop punk music always puts me in a good mood. I started out by putting a cup of dry brown rice into my brand new Rice cooker (Thanks Brent).

Here are all the ingredients. I had to pick up a decent amount of this recipe because I've never cooked with corn starch or vegetable oil but there's a first for everything! So here are two photos of the final product...

This recipe definitely doesn't taste like anything I've ever ordered of a Chinese menu. With that being said, I really like this recipe. It was incredibly simple, the most time that was spent was cutting the carrots and snap peas. The actual cooking process only takes 7 or 8 minutes.

I would definitely try out this recipe, but make sure to cook some rice with it! =)