Asian Style Chipotle Chili Pork

Ingredients:

3 lb boneless pork chops
lots of fresh garlic, like 10 cloves
1 onion
2 roma tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp chipotle chili powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 or 2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 lb fresh green beans
1 can sliced water chestnuts
3 cups cooked rice

Tools

Slow Cooker
Sautee Pan
Big Spoon
Big Knife
Cutting Board

The Process:

Crush the garlic and mince.  Add to a large bowl with tomato sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, and spices.  Stir to combine into a marinade.

Cut up the pork into large cubes, about 1″; chop the onion into thick 1″ chunks. Might as well wash and snip the ends off the green beans and chop the tomatoes while you have the knife and cutting board out. Add the pork and onions to the marinade and stir thoroughly to combine.  The liquid should cover the meat.  (You can optionally do all this stuff the day before and let it sit in the marinade in the fridge for many hours.)

Put the mixture into the slow cooker and let it go on high till it gets hot (maybe 1/2 hour), then turn down to low for 4 hours.  Stir in the tomatoes about 30 minutes before the time is up.

Just before serving time:
Start the rice cooking — how you do your rice will determine when you start it so that it will be done but still hot by the time everything else is ready.
The pork mixture’s sauce will be quite thin — thicken the sauce with corn starch: dissolve 1 tbsp corn starch in a couple tbsp water and mix till smooth, then stir into the pork mixture.  If it’s still really thin, repeat with a little more corn starch.  It will thicken more in the last step, so don’t make it too thick now.

Heat a large skillet with a little oil.  Sautee the green beans with a little soy sauce and water for about 5 minutes, stirring/flipping constantly.  Add the water chestnuts and continue to cook till the green beans are getting tender.  If you want them softer, put a lid on the skillet and add a little more water to let them steam for a few minutes.

When the green beans are as tender as you want, you’re done except for the combining.  Turn off the heat and add the pork mixture (still hot right out of the slow cooker), stirring to coat everything evenly.  The sauce will thicken more at this point.  Serve over rice.