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Rice Bowls with Soy Marinated Pork and Vegetables
Salty, sweet, spicy pork, fresh veggies, white rice and a fried egg on top; could you ask for anything more in life? These rice bowls are so delicious and easy to customize to your own taste - use whatever vegetables you have on hand and you can substitute the white rice for brown rice, quinoa, or even noodles. The marinade for the pork has so much flavor and you can prep most of this recipe the day before if you want to save time the next day.
The flavorful marinade is a combination of soy sauce, hot sauce, hoisin sauce, honey, garlic, and crushed red pepper. It doesn't need any salt because the soy sauce has plenty! If you want, you can make this marinade a day in advance and refrigerate it.
I used boneless pork country ribs for this recipe - since I broil the meat, I wanted something with a little fat to keep it from drying out. I cut the pork into small, bite size pieces and then let it marinate for at least an hour.
While the pork marinates, I prepped all the veggies and started cooking the rice. I love a combination of shredded carrots, chopped kale, thinly sliced mushrooms, and red bell pepper. I used jasmine rice here and I didn't season the water with anything because there is a lot of salt in the other components.
When the pork has finished marinating, remove it from the marinade with a slotted spoon. Let all the excess marinade drip off - if the pork has too much moisture when you put it in the oven it will steam instead of developing a nice dark color. Layer it on an oiled baking sheet without overlapping the pieces of pork too much.
Turn the broiler on high and put the baking sheet in the lower third of the oven. The pork only needs about 15 minutes to cook since the pieces are small.
While the pork is cooking, get a frying pan SUPER hot - a cast iron skillet works beautifully for this recipe as it retains heat much better than a non-stick pan. Sauté each of the veggies separately in a drop of olive or vegetable oil:
Carrots: The shredded carrots only need about four minutes, and I add a tablespoon of the leftover marinade to them while they cook to give them some flavor.
Mushrooms: I don't add any marinade to the mushrooms while they cook; they already have enough moisture. I cook them for about 5 minutes on very high heat so they get a nice dark brown color on them.
Kale: The kale takes about 5 minutes and I sauté it with a few tablespoons of marinade as well to give it lots of flavor, and the steam from the marinade will help tenderize it as it cooks.
Bell Pepper: The bell pepper only needs about a minute or two so it retains it's nice crunch. This also gets sautéed with a bit of the marinade.
Notice how all the veggies have some great color on them from the high heat.
Once the veggies are done, it should be time to remove the pork from the oven and set it aside. The rice should be cooked as well. The last step is to fry a couple of sunny side up eggs to top the rice bowls with. The silky, runny yolk goes perfectly with the salty bits of pork and the combination of vegetables.
Put the rice bowls together by placing half the rice on the bottom of each bowl and topping with half of the pork and veggies. Place the fried egg on top and garnish with some sesame seeds for crunch.
Recipe:
Total Time: 25 minutes active, 1 hour inactive| Serves: 2
Ingredients:
2 boneless pork country ribs, about 1/2 lb total cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup real soy sauce
1 tbs hot sauce or sriracha
2 tbs hoisin sauce
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 tbs honey
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup jasmine rice
8 oz white mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 cups chopped kale
3 carrots, shredded
1 red bell pepper, julienned
Olive oil
2 eggs
1 tsp sesame seeds
Salt and pepper
1. Combine the soy sauce, hot sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic, honey, and crushed red pepper in a bowl. Add the pork and allow to marinade at least 1 hour.
2. Move the oven rack to the lower third and preheat the broiler to high. In a saucepan, combine the jasmine rice with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, stir, then lower the heat to a simmer and cover for 15 minutes.
3. While the rice is cooking, remove the pork from the marinade, saving the leftover marinade. Spread the pork evenly on a sheet pan and place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat a cast iron skillet until it is super hot. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the carrots with 1 tablespoon of the leftover marinade for about three minutes until the carrots start to char. Remove the carrots and set them aside.
5. Saute the mushrooms with another 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the same skillet for about 5 minutes until they are crisp on the edges. Sprinkle with a dash of salt, then remove and set aside.
6. Add another two tablespoons of olive oil along with the kale and 3 tablespoons of the marinade; sauté for five minutes until the kale is wilted. Remove and set aside.
7. Lastly, sauté the bell pepper for just two minutes with a tablespoon of marinade and set aside.
8. At this point, the rice and pork should be done. Remove them from the heat and set aside and fry two eggs, sunny side up with a sprinkle of salt on the yolk.
9. Assemble the bowls with rice on the bottom, the pork and veggies, and the fried egg on top. Sprinkle with black pepper and sesame seeds to garnish.