Paula's Chow Mein

1 lb lean ground pork
Bok Choy - about 2 cups rough chopped
Onion - 1 medium, sliced in large pieces
Celery - about 1 cup, sliced on the bias
Carrots - about 1 cup, cut into matchsticks
Garlic - 3-4 cloves, chopped fine
Ground Ginger - 1 tsp or more to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tbsp oil - I use a mix of canola and hot pepper oil - it gives it just a tiny zing
Soy Sauce - 1/2 cup or so
Corn Starch - probably actually only a tsp or so

Chop and prepare the veggies. When chopping the bok choy, include some of the dark green leafy "stuff" and just rough chop it.

In a measuring cup, mix soy sauce, a heaping tsp of corn starch and the ginger. Set aside.

Cook ground pork till the pink is gone. Remove from pan, and stir fry veggies in oil to desired doneness (we prefer them to be "tender crisp"), leaving the bok choy for the last - this should not be over cooked - leafy "stuff" should be not much more than wilted. Add pork back to pan with the veggies. Salt and pepper to taste (we like a pretty fair amount of pepper, although bok choy has a sort of peppery flavor itself). Stir the soy sauce mixture that has been set aside, re-incorporating the corn starch, and add to the mixture. Stir till evenly coated - it will thicken slightly - and serve with rice or Chinese noodles.

If you don't want the corn starch, this recipe can be made without it - it will just not be thick - however - it doesn't really affect the taste. Also - when we've been out of soy sauce, we've also put in a little oyster sauce or terriyake sauce - whatever has been available in the fridge. The key ingredients seem to be (for our purposes of trying to re-create something) pepper and ginger. You can also add bean sprouts - however - they don't last very well if you have leftovers.

Number of Servings: 4

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user PBOSH83.