The Guest Kitchen: Ginger Pork with Cucumber and Herbs from Holly (Birch) Smith

 While I was raving about my love of ground pork, my cousin Holly sent me a recipe her family loves that she said I should try. I finally got around to making it tonight. It was very good. It has an Asian inspired taste with the use of soy sauce and ginger. It makes 4 servings and only takes about 25 minutes to make. This would be a great weeknight meal when you don't have a lot of time. I really loved the freshness of adding the cucumber and herbs. 

It is pretty healthy as well. It does use some brown sugar so keep that in mind if you have dietary restrictions.  I wonder if it would work with coconut sugar in place of the brown. Something to try for next time. 

Ingredients:

6 green onions finely chopped

3 TBSP soy sauce

2 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 TBSP oil

1 TBSP minced ginger

1 garlic glove minced

1 lb ground pork

1 medium cucumber peeled and cut into 1/2 in cubes

1/2 C Herb leaves like mint, cilantro, or basil

hot cooked brown rice

lime wedges and/or Sriracha sauce optional

* I'll admit I accidentally used too much ginger this would probably be even better with the right amount. Also, I don't like green onions, so I omitted them. I used mini cucumbers since I will have leftovers, I can make up the cucumber mix when I am ready. I also left the peel on the cucumber. I also forgot to add the lime juice. I also used tricolor quinoa instead of brown rice. Quinoa has more fiber and reheats better. 

The recipe:

In medium bowl, stir together half the green onions, the soy sauce, sugar, and crushed red pepper. 

In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat add ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant approx. 30 seconds.

Stir pork into the garlic and ginger, and then press flat to make one large patty. Cook 3-4 min until browned and crisp on bottom.

Break up the patty and stir in the soy sauce mixture, reserving the bowl. 

Stir until pork is completely cooked and crumbled 2-3 minutes. 

In reserved bowl, combine the remaining green onions, cucumber, and herbs. 

Spoon pork mixture over rice and top with cucumber salad.

Serve with lime wedges and or Sriracha sauce if desired, 

My takeaways are:

1. use the right amount of ginger

2. try an alternative to brown sugar like the Splenda brown sugar or coconut sugar to avoid glucose spikes. 

3. Remember to add the lime juice

4. This could also be good using sesame oil. 

Final thoughts...I hope you enjoy this recipe as well. If you have a recipe you would like to share and maybe see featured feel free to send it to me!