Weeknight Dinner: Spicy Pork and Vegetable Lo Mein

Happy Thursday! Here is a pretty quick and easy weeknight dinner that tastes like takeout but definitely is not as greasy.  I was inspired to make this when I found some fresh lo mein noodles at a local market for $1 buck. I built the dish around that, to some extent driven to the ground pork based on a truly fabulous ramen dish at local Boston place - for those of you in the area, you must get yourself to the food court in the Porter Square exchange building in Somerville, MA and have the spicy pork miso ramen at Sapporo Ramen.  As you can see, this is not ramen but just stir fried noodles and, while I remembered to get the ground pork at Whole Foods, I forgot the miso!  I came up with this dish nonetheless, and it has that same porky umami quality, and it took under 30 minutes to prepare, which is great for a busy weeknight.

  Spicy Pork and Vegetable Lo Mein

 

Ingredients 1 lb fresh lo mein noodles (spaghetti would work, but look for the fresh lo mein noodles, they are yummy)
2 tsp neutral oil or peanut oil
1 lb ground pork
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons grated ginger
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons siracha
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 pinches hot pepper flakes
3 cups chopped mushrooms (I used a combination of button mushrooms and shitake)
3 heads of baby bok choy, chopped
4 scallions, chopped white and light green parts
Directions:

1. Bring 6-8 cups of water to a boil.
2. Boil the noodles for 3 minutes and drain, set aside.
3. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a wok or large sauce pan over medium high heat.
4. Add the ground pork and toss around the wok breaking up with a spatula.
5. In a small bowl, mix the ginger, soy sauce, siracha, hoisin, sesame oil and pepper flakes.
6. Pour half of this mixture into the pork, along with the garlic cloves and continue to stir fry the pork until it is cooked through.
7. Set aside the pork into a bowl.
8. Add 1 teaspoon of oil back into wok.  Add the mushrooms and cook  - stirring the mushrooms around - for 5 minutes.
9. Add the bok choy (again stirring the vegetables so they do not stick) and cook for 3 minutes more, until the bok choy is wilted.  
10. Add a handful of chopped scallions and cook 2 more minutes.
11. Add the noodles to the wok and stir.
12. Add the rest of the sauce and using tongs toss the noodles and vegetables in the sauce until well incorporated, stir fry for 2 - 5 minutes so some bits of the noodles get a little crunchy. 
13. Add pork, toss to combine.  
14. Serve with rest of scallions on top to taste.