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Chile Noodles with Snow (or Sugar Snap) Peas and Crisp Pork

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Makes 4 servings 1x

Time 30 minutes

In How to Cook Everything Fast, recipe directions are separated into “prep” and “cook.” Here, we’ve made that distinction with italics for prep-work and plain text for cooking. This reflects the most efficient order and timing of tasks.

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • Salt
  • 1 pound boneless pork shoulder or sirloin
  • 5 tablespoons good-quality vegetable oil
  • 5 dried red chiles (like pequin or arbol) or 3 fresh hot chiles (like Thai or serrano)
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 inch fresh ginger
  • 12 ounces snow (or sugar snap) peas
  • 12 ounces udon noodles
  • Sesame seeds for garnish
  • Soy sauce for passing at the table

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it.
  2. Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces.
  3. Put 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the pork and sprinkle with salt. Cook undisturbed until the pieces brown and release easily from the pan, 3 to 5 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring once or twice, until the pork crisps in places and is no longer pink inside, about 5 minutes more.
  4. If you’re using dried chiles, leave them whole; if you’re using fresh, slice them thinly.
    Peel 4 cloves garlic and 1 inch ginger and slice them both crosswise.
  5. Transfer the pork to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add 4 tablespoons vegetable oil to the skillet and turn the heat to medium-low. Add the chiles, garlic, and ginger. Adjust the heat so that the oil bubbles ever so slightly, turning it down if anything starts to smell too toasted; let the flavors infuse the oil while you cook the noodles and peas.
  6. Trim the snow (or sugar snap) peas.
  7. When the water boils, add the udon and cook, stirring occasionally. Start tasting after 3 minutes. When the noodles are almost tender, add the snow peas to the boiling water. Continue cooking until the noodles are tender but not mushy and the snow peas are softened but still crisp, just a minute or so.
  8. Drain the noodles and snow peas, rinse them under cold water until they’re room temperature, then drain again. Return the noodles and snow peas to the pot and add the pork. Pour the oil into the pot through a strainer (discard the solids if you like, or reserve them to pass at the table). Toss, taste, and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with the sesame seeds and serve, passing soy sauce at the table.

— Recipe from How to Cook Everything Fast

Recipe variations

Chile Noodles with Gai Lan and Crisp Chicken Gai lan is Chinese broccoli; good stand-ins are broccolini, mustard greens, and baby bok choy. Use 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of the pork and gai lan instead of the snow (or sugar snap) peas. (Chop it into 1-inch pieces.) The cooking times will be the same.

Chile Noodles with Snow (or Sugar Snap) Peas and Crisp Salmon Substitute 1 pound salmon fillets for the pork. Leave the skin on if you like; it will crisp deliciously. Leave the fillets whole to start. In Step 2 cut the cooking time on both of the stages in half; break the salmon into big pieces with a spatula as it firms.

Chile Noodles with Carrot Ribbons and Crisp Edamame Substitute a 10-or 12-ounce bag of frozen shelled edamame for the pork. Increase the total oil to 6 tablespoons, adding the extra tablespoon at the beginning of Step 2. Heat the oil over medium heat and as the edamame cook and crisp, mash them with the back of a spoon or a fork; they will be ready in about 5 minutes. Instead of the snow (or sugar snap) peas, trim and peel 2 carrots; use the peeler to continue cutting ribbons from the carrot, all the way down to the core. Add them to the noodles as described in Step 4.