Pork Lo Mein

This is a win-win meat dish - good for you and good for the planet.  And great to eat!  How nice to strip away the meat guilt, finally!

This is a much more heart-healthy version of one of my favorite Chinese dishes.  I've cut the carbs (noodles) in half and eliminated the added sugar to the sauce, as we are learning how heart unfriendly processed carbs and sugar are (too bad... My Chinese cooking teacher added a few teaspoons of sugar to the sauce, which are certainly tasty, but both unnecessary and heart unhealthy).  I'm bumping up the veggies by about double - thank you Mark Bittman and others, who are urging a shift in ingredient ratios amplifying complex carbs like whole grains and fresh veggies.  

See Cook's Note:  I've also amped the meat proportion, as we learn that no correlation can be proven between saturated fat and heart disease.  And pork is such a wonderful meat to eat, and good for the planet.  Really.  Now enjoy.
2 Tbsp canola oil, and then some
1 lb pork, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 lb fresh, cooked lo mein noodles, cut in half
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2-inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced
3 cups broccoli floweretts
3 cups savoy cabbage, sliced

Sauce:
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp chili paste with garlic, or Sriracha sauce

Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
palmful fresh cilantro, minced, for garnish

Heat a wok to high heat. Add the oil and allow to heat just until smoking. Toss in the pork and stir fry for about 3-4 minutes, stirring regularly and shaking the wok.

Make noise! Add the lo mien noodles and heat through, about 2 minutes.

Remove pork mixture to a bowl.

Add a dash more canola oil to the wok and heat again until smoking. Keep wok on high heat and work quickly. Add the onion and stir fry about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and and ginger and stir fry another 2-3 minutes.

Add the broccoli and the water and cook for about 3-5 minutes, just until the broccoli is dark green and just crisp tender. Remove to a bowl.

Finally add a dash more canola oil to the wok if necessary, and when very hot, add the cabbage.

Stir fry about 2-3 minutes, just to wilt a bit.

Return the pork and other veggies to the wok and pur the sauce over the mixture. Heat through and serve in a bowl. Garnish with sesame seeds and fresh cilantro.

Serves 4.

Cook's Note:  Whoa - apparently saturated fats, such as found in meats - including pork - have not been in fact correlated to heart disease.  Read "The Great Cholesterol Myth" by J. Bowden and S. Sinatra.  New findings: Inflammation, Oxidation, Sugar and Stress are really the KEY culprits.  Simply said: reduce sugars and simple, highly processed carbs from your diet.  Don't fret about saturated fats so long as you exercise well and often, and can metabolize those calories.  For goodness sake, get on your bike, or treadmill - find your Yoga matt :-))  Or just walk around the block a dozen times - better yet climb your stairs form garage to attic 6 times in a row.  Enjoy this dish afterwards :-))

And honestly, "Pork rules" (Thank you Emeril :-))  Read (if you can possibly stand the technical nutritional, chemical and agricultural detail and jargon - which I love) "Meat - The Benign Extravagance" by Simon Fairlie (an agricultural professional), for a thorough investigation of meat and it's role in the plant and in nutrition.  You'll see how fantastic our friendly pigs really are, and how they can balance a holistic approach to farming, nutrition management, and planetary global warming.  

Vegan?  Well, yes - a great aspiration and wonderful sentiment.  Simon would say un-sustainable, especially if organic, but a vector definitely pointed in the right direction.

Answer?  Not evident, but becoming so much clearer: BALANCE is certainly key.