Adult Onset ADD? Try Braised Pork in Soy Sauce

Have you ever thought to yourself that perhaps you suffer from adult onset Attention Deficit Disorder?  I must admit, I have this feeling quite often.  Why can’t I  be that mom who plans a month’s worth of meals at a time and even sets aside a day to cook and freeze most of those meals, whose ingredients she has purchased at the grocery store for thirty-three cents due to her couponing prowess? No, I’m the ADD impulse shopper mom who plans her cherished family’s meals at the spur of the moment. Take today, for instance, I’m driving the kids to church wondering what we are going to have for dinner. It should be a pretty good dinner, as it’s Sunday, you know. NPR is on and they are talking to Sasha Gong about her new book , The Cultural Revolution Cookbook, which is about her life growing up in China’s cultural revolution and the food they ate. Very in-ter-est-ing. Of course, she is cooking the braised pork on the show and I swear I could smell that pork through the radio. So, now I knew what was for dinner.

Of course, for the Wilsons I had to quintuple the recipe and it worked out just fine. It was very simple and easy to make and very tasty, but probably not meant for diabetics as it does have a bit of sugar in it (especially when you quintuple the recipe!) I served it with cabbage sauteed with garlic and soy sauce, but I think my Monsoon Garlic Green Beans would have been fabulous with it.

The good news about cooking with adult onset ADD is it keeps the kids on their toes. We don’t have complacent stomachs at our house.  They never know what they’re going to get. We might have authentic Chinese food one night and corn dogs the next. Yes, I’m teaching them ….ummmm……adaptability. Maybe this ADD is a good thing after all…….

Braised Pork in Soy Sauce

From The Cultural Revolution Cookbook by Sasha Gong and Scott D. Seligman

Ingredients:

• 1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 large piece ginger, at least 1 inch on a side
• 1 T. vegetable oil
• 4 T. sugar
• 4 T. soy sauce
• 1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 t. powdered)
• 1/2 cup rice wine
• cilantro for garnish

Cooking Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a wok (or big frying pan as I did). Smash the ginger with the side of a cleaver or just hammer that puppy, do not worry about the peel, and throw it into the oil. Then add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
2. Add the pork once the sugar is dissolved. Stir fry until most of the liquid has evaporated, but not all. Add the soy sauce, cinnamon and wine.
3. Mix, cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.
4. Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice.