Hawaii Stir Fry
Serving suggestions
Traditionally this would be served with a creamy macaroni salad and sticky rice.
Ingredients
1 can SPAM or 1.5lbs boneless pork chops
1/2 head of large cabbage, green or red
1 small onion, sliced
1 cup whole macadamia nuts, or 1/2 cup pre-chopped macadamia nuts
2 tbs sesame seed oil or coconut oil
1 inch of orange peel or 1 tsp of dried, crushed orange peel
2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbl sriacha
1 tbl honey
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
2 tbl rice wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
Fresh ginger to taste, thinly sliced
Equipment
1 chef’s knife
2 cutting boards
1 container for marinating or one large resealable freezer bag
1 medium mixing bowl
1 Large Wok or non-stick Skillet
1 Wooden spoon
1 small bowl for holding spices
1 liquid measuring cup capable of measuring at least 1 cup
1 set of measuring spoons
1 food processor / coffee grinder / spice grinder (for whole nuts)
Directions
Begin by getting your chef’s knife an clean cutting board ready. Get your meat of choice and begin slicing into strips. If using SPAM slice along the length, so you have long, thin pieces. Once sliced thinly then stack them back up and cut in half or thirds, depending on the size of the loaf. We want them to be easy to pick up with chopsticks. (even if you won’t be using chopsticks it helps everything to cook evenly when they are the same sizes.) Set pork chops or SPAM aside in a bowl or large zip bag for marinating.
Mix together soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sriacha. Add enough to the porkchops or SPAM to cover and refrigerate while we prepare the rest of the dish.
Clean your chef’s knife.
Combine your spices, except fresh orange peel if using. Set aside.
Place macadamia nuts in food processor and pulse until chopped. Set aside.
Switch to a clean cutting board. Peel your onion. I find it easiest to chop off the root and tip, then grip the onion firmly and gently (and carefuly!) use your chef’s knife to slice along the outer skin and ring, from top to bottom. Set your blade aside and start peeling both the skin and first ring away from the onion and discard. Set your onion back on the cutting board and slice into thin rings. Set aside in your mixing bowl.
Wipe down your cutting board and set the head of cabbage on it. Rinse your cabbage in cold water, we will rinse again after cutting. Position the cabbage and cut it in half so that the you have one half with the stem and one half with the top. Width-wise instead of length-wise. Place a damp paper towel in a large freezer bag and put the half of the cabbage with the stem in there. (It is important that the paper towel is damp and not wet. This will help keep the cabbage fresher, longer.) Take the other half of the cabbage and begin cutting across the cabbage width-wise. We want our strips to be evenly sized, the goal is to be the same width as the meat strips. Place the cabbage strips in the mixing bowl with the onion.
Set your skillet or wok to medium-high heat. When pan is to temperature add your oil. If using pork chops add now and sprinkle a few pinches your seasonings on it. Reserver your marinade. Pork chops should sizzle when placed on skillet. Do not add SPAM now if using SPAM, it is already cooked so we will add it later. Brown pork chops on one side, turn pork chops over, sprinkle again with more seasoning. Add vegetable mix.
Cabbage has a lot of water in it so we want to cook it down before we add the sauce. Sprinkle some more seasoning on the cabbage. Keep on medium high heat for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. At 5 minutes check the cabbage and make sure the leaves on the top get stirred to the bottom of the skillet so they can start cooking. Add the rest of your seasoning now. By 10 minutes the cabbage should be smaller in volume. There may be quite a bit of water on the bottom of the skillet from the cabbage, carefully drain this water off without spilling the food from the skillet.
Add the chopped nuts now and stir frequently. We want the nuts to get a pleasant toasted flavor but not burn them. It should take only one or two minutes.
Add the SPAM now if using. Add all the marinade now, and orange peel if using. Stir the contents of the skillet so that everything is well mixed. Once marinade is bubbling, lower heat to low. Add the honey now and stir until dissolved. Let sit uncovered for approximately 8 minutes. Stir the skillet contents and then cover. Usually at this stage my rice has 20 minutes left to cook and steam. If your rice will be done sooner, or if you are not using rice, do not cover. Stir frequently and monitor the SPAM and cabbage to make sure they don’t get over cooked.
At this stage we are reducing the sauce to make it thicker, the cooking process is otherwise finished. If you don’t have time to wait for the sauce to reduce and the sauce is too thin for you at this stage then make notes to yourself to use less sauce when you add the marinade to the dish.
Serve over rice or noodles.
Substitutions
Meat: I usually substitute low sodium SPAM for regular SPAM as I find it too salty otherwise. There are also many SPAM flavors you can try as well. SPAM is the main brand but there are other “luncheon meats” out there, and store brands and so on that work just fine. You can also substitute 1.5lbs of boneless pork chops instead of SPAM. The steps are slightly different.
Onion: This dish would be traditionally cooked with Maui sweet onions, but those are very expensive and difficult to get on the mainland. Texas sweet onions, also called 1040s, may be easier to get. The easiest to get substitution though would be shallots. I usually use whatever onions I have handy, which are small yellow onions. If you get big or jumbo sized onions just half or less is all you need. If you are using Maui onions or Texas Sweet Onions or shallots you can use more as it won’t over power the other flavors.
Cabbage: Red or green cabbage are both fine and are prepared and cooked the same. The difference is in the flavor. I prefer the flavor of Red cabbage but it isn’t always available.
You can also substitute Bok Choy, you would need about four bok choys. The estimate is rough since they vary in size, if very small more may be needed or if very large perhaps only two. You should use all the bok choy. Depending on the size you may be able to just pick the leaves off and wash them. If too large for that the slice them length-wise.
You could also substitute kim chi, which is a Korean style sauerkraut. Washing isn’t needed. It is usually sold sliced up, not whole. If whole, cut as bock choy directions. I wouldn’t use any vinegar or wine in the sauce with this substitution. Instead use 2 tbl of the pickling juice.
Brussels sprouts could also be substituted. If frozen, thaw. Slice them in thirds. Wash if fresh.
Macadamia Nuts: If you can’t get or don’t like macadamia nuts you can substitute 1/2 cup chopped nuts of your choice. If you have a nut allergy you can substitute pepitas or other squash seeds. If they are already toasted add them after the dish is cooked.
You can also substitute a tablespoon of white sunflower seeds.
Oil: Depending on the flavor I want I use either coconut oil or sesame seed oil. If you can’t find coconut oil or sesame seed oil then vegetable oil is OK.
Sauce: Dark soy sauce has a deeper flavor than Chinese style soy sauce, which is what is sold as “soy sauce” in the States. You can substitute low sodium soy sauce, or whole-bean soy sauce. I don’t recommend substituting Worsteshire sauce, but any soy sauce should be ok. You can also try teriyaki sauce. I would taste first before adding honey.
For the vinegar I usually use rice wine vinegar. You could substitute sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar or white wine.
If you don’t like spicy food you can leave out the sriacha. If you prefer spicy food add more, to taste.
You can substitute “turbinado” raw cane sugar for the honey, or brown sugar. I’ve found that agave syrup also works well.
Spices: If you don’t have fresh ginger you can substitute crystallized ginger if you would like. You will need a separate small dish or bowl, put 1stp of the crystallized ginger in the dish and cover with some sauce. If doing this method then you should mix the sauce first and set the crystallized ginger to marinate before cutting the pork. We want it to be well hydrated when we start cooking it. When using crystallized ginger you may not need to add honey, taste sauce before adding something sweet.
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