International Style Cuisine with Bok Choy

Last night, I made a wonderful tasting Bok Choy dinner.  I kept on passing the bok choy up in the store but had the urge to make something with that vegetable.  I've used it before, but the last time I used it I was in college.  So, I bought it last week.  These urges are are a bit strange to me; I get a spark of an idea for dinner and I can't let it go, so I eventually break down and buy whatever it may be.  Well, you're in luck, because it tasted great, and I'm going to let you in on the recipe.








Bok Choy with Pork (or a protein of your choice)

1-2 Large Bok Choy (or a few baby Bok Choy)
2 medium sized Tomatoes (diced)
1 medium sized Onion (diced)
4-6 cloves of Garlic (smashed and chopped)
1-1.5 lbs of Pork sliced thin (or Chicken, Beef, or Shrimp)
2+ Tbs. of fish sauce.
Oil/grease for the pan
Salt and Pepper to taste
Chilies of your choice or Garlic chili sauce

Cut up all the vegetables.  Saute only the onions, tomatoes and garlic in a larger pan with some bacon grease (that's what I used, and it worked pretty well).  Once those start to smell good, about 5-10 min, depending on the heat (it should be medium high), add in the pork and the fish sauce (it's going to smell pretty strong, but it will dissipate).  I think this dish works and looks good with thinly sliced pieces of Pork (I accomplished this by slicing the pork chops before they thawed all the way).  Once the pork is about halfway done, add in the larger/thicker pieces of the Bok Choy, and a few minutes later add in the rest of the B.C.  Now, I stir it all together so the juices reach every little thing and put a lid on it for 5 minutes, at a medium boil.  Take off the lid, and let it simmer for ~10 min. Or until the rice is done.

This goes great with some white rice.  To make it, I rinse a cup of rice off with water until the water runs clear.  Then, I add it to my pressure cooker with a 1 1/4 cup water, and set my pressure cooker on high pressure for 6 minutes (5 minutes would probably be good for lower altitudes).  Another way to make this type of rice, if you don't have a pressure cooker is to make it on the stove top.  I keep the same measurements of rice to water and put them in a saucepan, make sure it has a lid.  Stir the rice until it reaches a boil, then put the lid on and reduce the heat to low.  Let it sit without disturbing it for 20 minutes.  It should come out nice and tender and sticky.  If you're at lower altitudes you should probably take off a couple of minutes.  But, if it doesn't work for you, just experiment with the times.

To finish it off, add the rice to the plate then place the Bok Choy and Pork on top with a lot of the juice!