Saved-Me-from-Chubbiness Pork and Vegetable Stir Fry

I grew up with stir fry. I ate three hot meals a day and each meal always involved rice. White starchy rice that is.

A full meal includes at the minimum three different dishes that we eat with a plate of rice, all at the same time. No such things as Courses. There would always be a stir fry dish with plenty of vegetables, a soup made with vegetables and fish or sometimes chicken, and a meat or fish dish. My family would sit around the table and throughout the meal help themselves to a little from each dish to mix it with rice before putting the mixture in their mouth.

Anyway, when I was finally free from my parents’ control, I took delight in being able to choose what to eat for each meal. For a while, I enjoyed an endless supply of instant noodles, breakfast cereals (yes, I had those for dinner), instant Italian meals and of course fish & chips. I thought I could get away with not learning to cook when my taste buds were sufficiently satisfied with different flavours in different packages. I mean it was boring eating multiple dishes with different coloured vegetables and soup, and rice every single meal. It was magical and convenient to just pop something in the microwave and watch it transform into something edible in a matter of 3 minutes. How exciting!

But one day I saw a photo of a rather plump looking girl with her belly threatening to stick out. My adopted dad took the photo on one of our family walks. The girl was smiling which unfortunately emphasized the chubbiness of her face. I refused to acknowledge that the girl was me. But to my annoyance, everyone confirmed it was, in fact, me.

For the next few days, I tried to ignore the shock to my system of having seen that photo. I told myself that it was some random stranger that came into the shot and my dad mistook her for me. But my brain refused to believe me, so in the end, I reluctantly gave in to the truth.

After a period of self-pity, I decided to do something about that chubby girl. I started to frequent the fresh produce aisles in supermarkets. I started to recreate the dishes that I was used to that had kept my body well in its manageable size for my frame all those years. But I also tried out the dishes I wasn’t used to by using cookbooks. I tried all sorts of dishes: Italian, French, Chinese, Indian and of course British classics.

But one thing I always fall back on is stir fry. Whenever I am hungry, a dish of stir fry meat and vegetables and a small plate of white rice always satisfy me. I eat those and remember the times when my mum cooked several dishes for each meal. When I was getting over-eager with the idea of being able to fit into my high school clothes, I swapped my white rice with brown rice. But it only lasted a few meals as it ruined my stir fry experience. I concluded that the brown rice was probably made for other animals with bigger teeth, and definitely not for mine. So, since then I have accepted that I’m not going to give up my white rice no matter what the health nuts say.

Anyway, here’s my go-to stir fry. This dish has saved me from owning a pair of extra chubby cheeks over the years without me having to eat any less. (My family insists that my cheeks are still chubby. That’s why I don’t turn on the video when I talk to them.)

A small bowl of pork strips (just get ready-cut strips and pay extra, it’s worth it. Chicken works equally well too.)
A small bag of spinach
A pack of mushrooms (any types will do although I’d choose shiitake and oyster over others any day.)
A crushed garlic clove (just get a clove out and hit it with something blunt, I used the pestle from a mortar and pestle.)

Now, the seasoning …

I must say, you need the following goods in your cupboard at all times if you love stir fry:

A dessert spoon of fish sauce
A dessert spoon of soy sauce
A tablespoon of rice wine (optional)
Plenty of black pepper
Salt
A tablespoon of flour

Before you start cooking, mix the flour with a mug of water and stir well to make a really thin paste. Whisk to try to separate the lumps. After a few seconds, just groan and leave it with lumps. It’ll blend in when poured into the hot dish anyway.

Heat a little oil in a wok and fry the garlic quickly. Before the garlic gets burnt, put the meat in and fry until it’s nearly cooked. Sprinkle some salt and put the rice wine in while it’s cooking. Put the mushrooms in. (You did remember to cut them, right?) Put in some lumpy flour paste, soy sauce, fish sauce and pepper. When the sauce is thick, add more water if necessary. Use boiling water if possible. When the sauce is at the consistency you want, add the spinach. At the first sign of the spinach wilting, switch off the heat and cover the wok.

Now is the time you can calmly heat up cooked white rice that you already had in the fridge … or flap your arms about in a panic because you have forgotten to cook the rice before you got lost in the stir fry. (It’s happened to me a couple of times.) If that panic strikes, don’t worry. Just take out a nest of dry noodles and put it in boiling water from the kettle and simmer for 3 minutes. Then have the stir fry with the noodles. If you don’t have noodles in your cupboard, then go ahead and panic.

Done.