I had some defrosted ground pork in the fridge that I needed to cook up but I had no fricking idea what I wanted to do with it.  Correction.  I had a ton of ideas for what I could make (e.g. skinless gyoza , pork larb, meatballs) but I was too lazy to make anything too involved. 

Inspired by this pork and shrimp lettuce wraps recipe over at www.cavemengourmet.com, I decided to make a quick stir-fry with items in my fridge and pantry.  I’ve cut back on cooking Asian dishes because all my favorite condiments are decidedly not Paleo – oyster sauce, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, mirin, seasoned rice vinegar, any store-bought Asian sauce/marinade.  How the hell can I make Asian food taste right?  You need the right balance of sweet, savory, sour, and umami. 

After looking at my pantry, I found some good replacement items.  For umami flavor, fish sauce is great.  Although Fitbomb likes to avoid soy products, I do have some wheat-free tamari on hand for savory and umami flavoring. To add some sour flavor, I have a variety of vinegars and some lemons/limes in my fridge.

For my pork stir-fry tonight, these are the ingredients I wrangled up:

·      1 lb of pasture raised ground pork

·      2 cups of thinly sliced cremini mushrooms

·      1 onion chopped finely in my mini-prep

·      1 inch knob of ginger grated on a microplane (I keep my ginger in the freezer)

·      3 garlic cloves squeezed through my garlic press

·      4 cups of pre-washed baby spinach

·      1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce

·      1 tablespoon of wheat-free tamari

·      1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

·      1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil

·      kosher salt and pepper to taste

Here’s how I threw it all together:

I heated up some coconut oil in my skillet over medium-high heat.  Then I added the onion and once they were translucent, I threw in the mushrooms.   Once the vegetables cooked down, I put in the ground pork, garlic, and ginger.  I added the fish sauce, tamari, and vinegar (all the measurements above are estimations).   Once the sauces were mixed in, I added the spinach and stirred them around until they wilted.  I tasted for seasoning and added salt and pepper as needed. 

I just scooped up the sir-fry and plopped it in a bowl and chowed down.  Yummy, but in the future, I’ll serve it with some cauliflower fried “rice.”