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I'll often read someone's post about a meal they threw together and compliment them on coming up with something so tasty on their own. They'll frequently casually respond that it wasn't a big deal. "Necessity is the mother of invention," they'll say. But in my house, necessity often explains why we're eating cereal for dinner. I'm getting better though. I've finally gotten comfortable enough with cooking that I'm starting to look at what we have in the fridge and pantry and piece together something to eat based on constraints such as, "Well I thawed out that pound of ground pork so I need to use that. But the only veggies I have left are some cabbage." I looked up the seasonings for a few Asian Lettuce Wrap recipes and used that for the pork. The peanut sauce came from the Spaghetti with Chicken and Thai Peanut Sauce recipe.
Pork and Cabbage with Peanut Sauce Noodles
1 pound ground pork
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2-3 cups of green cabbage, cut into small, narrow strips
3/4 pound of noodles (spaghetti or Chinese noodles)
For the Sauce:
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp lime juice
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, preferably natural
1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried red-pepper flakes, or to taste
1/3 cup chopped peanuts (optional)
Yield: 4 servings
1. Mix the pork, minced garlic, soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil together. Let it marinate at least 30 minutes.
2. Cut up the cabbage and set aside.
3. In a stainless-steel medium saucepan, mix up all the ingredients for the sauce and bring it to a simmer over moderate heat. Stir until smooth and then keep warm.
4. Fill a pot with water for the noodles and set it to start boiling.
5. Stir-fry the marinated pork and crumble the meat. Once browned, mix in the cabbage and continue to stir-fry until cabbage is soft and no longer bitter. I even poured a little water into the pan.
6. Is the pot of water boiling yet? Now cook the noodles until done and then drain.
To serve, start with noodles on bottom, pour in some of the peanut sauce, scoop in some pork and cabbage mixture, and add some more peanut sauce. Mix it all up. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts on top.
Variation: Pork and Cabbage with Sesame Noodles
The sauce is equal parts sesame paste and soy sauce. You can find sesame paste in Asian grocery stores. I don't know if tahini is the same stuff. I've never tried making sesame sauce with tahini but maybe one of you knows and can tell me in the comments. Rest of this variation on the recipe was pretty much the same. Mix up the meat and let marinate at least 30 minutes. Cut up the cabbage and began sauteeing that over medium heat with grapeseed oil. After a few minutes, added some water and let it cook down until it got soft, adding water as needed. Cook the marinated meat and crumble the meat. Mix in with the cabbage. Boiled water to cook up some Chinese noodles. When noodles were cooked, mixed them with the sesame sauce. Top with cabbage and pork mixture. Drizzle some more sesame sauce on top and mix.
Variation: Tofu and Cabbage with Peanut Sauce or Sesame Noodles
To make a vegetarian version, use tofu instead of pork. Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. I haven't actually tried making it this way but it sounds like it would be good. Tofu seems to be good at picking up the flavors of whatever you marinate or cook it with plus one of my favorite tofu dishes is fried tofu dipped in Thai peanut sauce.

Pork and Cabbage with Peanut Sauce Noodles
1 pound ground pork
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2-3 cups of green cabbage, cut into small, narrow strips
3/4 pound of noodles (spaghetti or Chinese noodles)
For the Sauce:
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp lime juice
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, preferably natural
1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried red-pepper flakes, or to taste
1/3 cup chopped peanuts (optional)
Yield: 4 servings
1. Mix the pork, minced garlic, soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil together. Let it marinate at least 30 minutes.
2. Cut up the cabbage and set aside.
3. In a stainless-steel medium saucepan, mix up all the ingredients for the sauce and bring it to a simmer over moderate heat. Stir until smooth and then keep warm.
4. Fill a pot with water for the noodles and set it to start boiling.
5. Stir-fry the marinated pork and crumble the meat. Once browned, mix in the cabbage and continue to stir-fry until cabbage is soft and no longer bitter. I even poured a little water into the pan.
6. Is the pot of water boiling yet? Now cook the noodles until done and then drain.
To serve, start with noodles on bottom, pour in some of the peanut sauce, scoop in some pork and cabbage mixture, and add some more peanut sauce. Mix it all up. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts on top.
Variation: Pork and Cabbage with Sesame Noodles
The sauce is equal parts sesame paste and soy sauce. You can find sesame paste in Asian grocery stores. I don't know if tahini is the same stuff. I've never tried making sesame sauce with tahini but maybe one of you knows and can tell me in the comments. Rest of this variation on the recipe was pretty much the same. Mix up the meat and let marinate at least 30 minutes. Cut up the cabbage and began sauteeing that over medium heat with grapeseed oil. After a few minutes, added some water and let it cook down until it got soft, adding water as needed. Cook the marinated meat and crumble the meat. Mix in with the cabbage. Boiled water to cook up some Chinese noodles. When noodles were cooked, mixed them with the sesame sauce. Top with cabbage and pork mixture. Drizzle some more sesame sauce on top and mix.
Variation: Tofu and Cabbage with Peanut Sauce or Sesame Noodles
To make a vegetarian version, use tofu instead of pork. Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. I haven't actually tried making it this way but it sounds like it would be good. Tofu seems to be good at picking up the flavors of whatever you marinate or cook it with plus one of my favorite tofu dishes is fried tofu dipped in Thai peanut sauce.
