Stir-fried Pork with Gai Choy

Cookbook Countdown is a monthly cooking/baking event, which I'm co-hosting with Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray.  Everyone is welcome to join us. How does it work? To summarize, you may select a cookbook from your own cookbook collection, to cook or bake from each month. That selected book shall be your cookbook of the month. You may cook any recipes and as many recipes as you want from your selected book of the month. This is a fabulous way of using your cookbooks at least once! For more information on how to join Cookbook Countdown, please click here. 

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Cookbook Countdown #3 : Recipe No. 3 - Stir-fried Pork with Gai Choy

from my selected cookbook for this month, My China by Kylie Kwong

Kai Choy harvest from my garden.

Kai Choy (heading mustard), has a slightly pungent and bitter taste. Either you like it or you don't. These veggies are from my garden pot. I was browsing thru Kylie Kwong's cookbook, when I saw a recipe uses Kai Choy, and I was all smiles, as I have a container of Kai Choy that are just right for harvest! I like Kai Choy the best when they are braised in a sour and spicy dish which we call "Shin Lat Choy". In this dish, Kai Choy is cut to big pieces, then cooked in a slow braise for 2-3 hours with roasted meat (usually roasted pork or duck), along with dried red chillies for spiciness and dried tamarind pieces for sourness. With this slow braising, the veggies would be all soft and tender, would have lost its bitterness, and would absorb the flavours of the roasted meat, chillies and tamarind. Salty, spicy and sour. Delish!  

Now let's get on to Kylie Kwong's recipe which is stir-fried with pieces of pork fillet.

I've used pork tenderloin fillet for this dish, sliced to thin pieces. If you have a copy of this book, you would notice that the photo in the book and my dish as pictured above are totally different in colour! LOL! From the book, the dish is a much darker colour while mine is very pale in comparison. I don't know why! The only thing I did not use is the brown sugar, and it is just a mere 1/2 teaspoon! Recipe uses 1 teaspoon brown rice vinegar but I've used the regular white rice vinegar, which I'm sure would not make such a vast difference in colour, with only 1 teaspoon. Maybe there's some black soy sauce in there, but somehow it was missing in the list of ingredients? I could have added the black soy sauce for extra colour but decided to leave it as it is.

This dish is nice if you do not mind bitter vegetables, as Kai Choy is a little bitter. Luckily for me, both my hubby and son do not mind eating this dish as they like bitter veggies. Except for my daughter who does not like anything bitter, she would not eat the Kai Choy after tasted one piece! Three out of four is not bad at all! I'm planning to grow more of these veggies. 

Stir-fried Pork with Gai Choy
(source from "My China" by Kylie Kwong)
1/2 bunch gai choy (mustard greens) - about 150gm (5oz)
2 tablespoons peanut oil
600gm (1 lb 4oz) pork neck fillet, cut into 5mm (1/4 in) slices
1 tablespoon peanut oil, extra
5cm (2in) piece ginger, cut into thin strips
2 garlic  cloves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons Shao Hsing wine
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon brown rice vinegar
pinch ground white pepper

Trim 5cm (2 in) from stem ends of gai choy. Wash leaves thoroughly, drain well and slice finely.

Heat peanut oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly. Add half the pork and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Remove pork from wok with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Add extra oil to wok with remaining pork and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Return all pork to wok, along with ginger and garlic, and stir-fry for 30 seconds.

Toss in gai choy and stir-fry for a further 30 seconds. Add remaining ingredients except pepper and stir-fry for about 2 minutes or until pork is just tender. Serve immeditely, sprinkled with pepper.

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