Leftover Pork Stir Fry

 

  For Father's Day this year, David made ribs.  He LOVES ribs, and we don't have them very often.  They can be expensive and for a family of 6, it gets costly quick.  Last week, one of our grocery stores had full slabs of baby back buy one get one.  Still not cheap, but definitely more manageable.  To make things easier on Father's Day, he braised the ribs in the oven on Saturday, then on Sunday, he grilled them to give them a quick char and heat them through.  From the braising liquid I made a quick BBQ sauce.  Holy cow, they were delicious!!!  

    We had plenty leftover and they were too good to let go to waste, so today I made Leftover Pork Stir Fry.  I took the ribs off of the bone and cut the meat into cubes.  We have plenty of rice, coleslaw mix, and the things necessary to make an easy stir fry sauce.  I used some of the leftover BBQ sauce from the ribs, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, ground ginger, and made it a little thicker by adding cornstarch.  

    Don't worry if you don't have any leftover pork (pulled pork works great too)!  You can easily use ground pork or turkey, chicken breasts, pork chops, etc.  You can even use beef.  This is a very versatile recipe and a great way to incorporate veggies into your meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 cups leftover pork, cubed
• 2 c. rice
• 1 c. frozen corn
• 2 green onions, diced
• 1 red, orange, or yellow pepper sliced
• 1 bag frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
• 1 c. BBQ sauce
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 clove fresh garlic, grated or minced
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• cornstarch slurry to thicken sauce, if needed
• 1 tsp. sesame oil or veggie oil to pan
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare rice ahead of time.  This will free up some time while you are making the stir fry.  Once you start putting all of the ingredients together, it will be quick!  Remember when cooking rice, it's a 2:1 ratio.  Two cups of water for every cup of rice.  Also be sure to season your rice with salt while it's cooking.
2. Make the stir fry sauce.  In a medium bowl, add BBQ sauce, soy sauce, ground ginger, honey, and rice wine vinegar.  Set aside.
3. Heat a large pan to medium heat.  Add sesame oil and garlic.  Watch the garlic because it will brown quickly.  
4. Add sliced peppers and chopped broccoli.  Saute for 3 to 4 minutes.  Add pork, heat through.  
5. Add the corn and stir to combine.  It may look like your pan will overflow, but the cabbage will cook down.
6. Add the stir fry sauce.  If the sauce is very thin, make a cornstarch slurry of cornstarch and water, and add to the pan.  This will thicken the sauce.  Allow to cook for 5 minutes.  
7. Stir in the rice, or serve separately making a bed of rice on the plate and add the stir fry on top.

Enjoy!!