The first time I remember enjoying something “stir-fried” outside of a Chinese (where they had tasted uniformly the same) was in my friends Clive and Sue’s house.
There when we had arrived (I’m sure) unexpectedly and (over) stayed our welcome into supper they produced a delicious stir-fry.
It was, as I remember a concoction of cubes of pork fillet (pork steak in Ireland)
fried quickly and then finished with some brown sugar and vinegar.
That was all.
It was, now that I think about it, a middle ground between stir fried and sweet and sour.
This (stolen) became a classic in our home kitchen.
But then, I started to meddle with it.
I began to think that if you managed to incorporate the veg you would have only to boil up a bit of rice and the dinner would be complete.
So I began adding a bit of veg, onions, carrots, peppers, leeks, scallions- not all of these all the time, but some.
It began to be something a little heartier.
But then…. somehow… it needed something to blend all these bits together.
I started to add some slivers of root ginger and garlic to the mix, maybe also on occasion a (very) little slivered chilli..
And then also a little spice, perhaps a teaspoon of cumin or coriander on the pork.
And then I started to fiddle with the purity of the brown sugar/ vinegar mix.
I added a little Soy sauce and Worcester sauce to the blend and sweetened with honey rather than sugar and with Balsamic (later Sherry) vinegar other than just any old…..
Thereby I had of course totally destroyed the original dish, and , become addicted to the one it had evolved into.
Tonight supper had to be produced at some speed.
I was busy making Seville Orange Marmalade (from frozen Seville’s from Ireland) and Rhubarb and Ginger jam for the larder and Tomato Bread for the freezer, and Síle had to be out by eight for a concert practice for their recital next week ( of The Seven Last Words of Christ, in Beziers I’ll be at the door), so supper had to be made in haste.
Within 30 minutes I had produced this.
(There are no accurate measurements, cooking in haste gives one no time to fiddle about with scales)
Take one pork steak, trim of fat and skin, cut down into medallions and then cut these medallions into julienne strips.
Sprinkle these with a teaspoon of cumin and some black pepper.
Take one onion, peel and slice finely. peel and cut into slivers two thumbs of ginger, empty and slice one red pepper.
In one pan fry all these veg until soft and browning at the edges.
In another fry the pork until brown.
Combine the two pans, add four tablespoons of sherry vinegar (or balsamic) two tablespoons of soy sauce and one tablespoon of honey, plus plenty of black pepper and (only if necessary) a pinch of salt.
Simmer together for two minutes.
Serve with rice.
Alternatively.
Julienne the pork, fry for a few minutes, add a tablespoon of brown sugar and two tablespoons of white wine vinegar to the pan.
Simmer until syrupy.
Serve with rice.
As we used to say in Cork long ago
You pays your money and you takes your chice.