Recipe: Spicy Noodles with Shredded Pork

No Asian meal is complete without a bowl of spicy noodles. These were made with shredded pork, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, scallions, jalapeno peppers, and cabbage over vermicelli noodles, flavored with sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chili oil.

Pork and Noodles:
2 pounds country-style boneless pork ribs (with fat)
4 servings long noodles, cooked according to package directions
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Stir-Fry Ingredients:
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 knob ginger root, finely shredded
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
6 mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 carrots, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1" lengths
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
4 scallions, cut into 1" lengths
2 cups cabbage, finely shredded

Sauce:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon chili oil (more or less to taste)
1 cup pork stock
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water

Preparing the Pork (about 3 hours):
Fill a large stock pot or soup kettle with 4 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt. Add pork ribs and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on low heat for 2 hours. Remove the meat from the broth and set aside to cool. Continue simmering the broth until it is reduced to 2 quarts. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Reserve 2 cups of the broth for the noodle sauce and store the remaining 6 cups of broth in the freezer for use in other meals. When the pork is cool, separate the meat from the fat in large chunks and set aside.

Preparing the Stir-Fry:
Combine sauce ingredients in a large measuring cup and set aside. Quickly blanched the carrots in boiling water for 1 minute and set aside. Prepare the noodles according to package directions, drain and toss with vegetable oil and set aside. Heat the sesame oil in a large wok or skillet. Add ginger, garlic, scallions, peppers, mushrooms, and blanched carrots, and quickly stir-fry until just tender. Add sauce and stir until slightly thickened. Add pork, noodles and cabbage, toss quickly to coat with sauce and mix uniformly with the vegetables. A little more broth may be added to thin the sauce if needed. Remove from the heat and serve immediately.