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 I had bought packages of boneless pork chops marked down that were on the small side. How am I going to stretch this meat to feed my family??? Rather than serving whole pork chops, I thought I would cut the meat into bite size pieces and make a stir fry. I was faking it, but this meal turned out so delicious! The garlic, ginger and spicy Szechuan  sauce made for a very bold sauce and the variety of fresh, organic vegetables gave it additional bright flavor and wonderful texture.

This is definitely a dish you could play with and use whatever vegetables you have on hand. You could even use a bag of frozen stir fry veggies. I just used what I had on hand and it made for a wonderful dish that we wolfed down!

The great thing about this dish is you can leave the meat out or substitute it with tofu for a vegan/vegetarian dish. Tofu would work well with this sauce! It would absorb that flavor and give you a protein boost with wonderful flavor.

Szechuan Stir Fry

3/4 – 1 pound pork or chicken, cut into bite size cubes
3 carrots, sliced

1/2 onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 head brocollini, chopped

4 oz mushrooms, sliced

1/2 pound asparagus, rough chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed or diced

1 tbsp ginger, finely diced

1/2 cup Chicken broth

1/2 cup Spicy Szechuan sauce

1 1/2 tbsp Cornstarch

1 1/2 tbsp water

Jasmati or Basmati rice

Cook jazmati or basmati rice as instructed by package. I made about 4 servings worth. Spray non-stick wok or large fry pan with non-stick spray, saute pork (or chicken) over medium high heat until browned on all sides. It’s OK if it’s not cooked all the way through. Remove meat from pan to a plate and set aside. If needed, give pan another spray of non-stick spray. Add all veggies and saute until tender, but still crunchy. Add broth, Szechuan sauce, and meat and turn heat down to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes. In a small bowl, stir together corn starch and water and then add to rest of mixture. This will thicken your sauce. Simmer until sauce is thickened and meat is cooked through. Serve over rice.

Tip: For those of you that are less-experienced cooks, the mix of cornstarch and water is called a slurry. If you don’t have cornstarch you can also use flour. You want to mix this together really well and work out any lumps, so when you add this to your sauce, you won’t have lumps, but your sauce will thicken nicely. This is good to have in your bag of tricks as you can use it to thicken almost any sauce that isn’t reducing or thickening the way you would like. Just don’t go overboard with too much as it will affect the flavor of your sauce.

Enjoy!