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Sweet and Spicy Pork and Napa Cabbage Stir-Fry with Spicy Noodles

"The Thai sweet chili sauce gives this dish a sweet and spicy flavor that my kids love. You can adjust the heat level by adding more or less of the sauce or adding additional red pepper flakes, if you like it really hot."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and cabbage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 919 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

6 servings
Prep30 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Whisk the 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 3/4 cup sweet chili sauce, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger and 3 tablespoons sesame oil in a large bowl for the spicy noodles. Set aside.

  2. Combine the 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 3 tablespoons sweet chili sauce and crushed red pepper flakes in a second bowl. Add the pork strips, toss to coat, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

  3. Meanwhile, cook the dry Chinese noodles in a pan of boiling water until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain, rinse briefly with cold water, and toss with the spicy noodle sauce.

  4. Mix the cornstarch with the 1/4 cup cold water in a small cup until smooth. Set aside.

  5. Heat 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil in a large wok or skillet over high heat. Stir-fry the marinated pork in batches until cooked through to 145°F (63°C), about 4 minutes, then transfer to a plate.

  6. Add the remaining cooking oil to the pan. Stir-fry the onions, celery, carrots and red bell peppers for 3 minutes until crisp-tender.

  7. Add the napa cabbage and stir-fry for 2 minutes until just wilted. Return the pork and any juices to the pan.

  8. Stir the cornstarch mixture again, pour it into the pan and stir for about 1 minute until the sauce thickens. Serve the pork and vegetables over the spicy noodles.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pork + cabbagetop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together919 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,030 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pepper + cabbagetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,080 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Ginger + sesametop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,531 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Sesame + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the sesame

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, garlic, ginger, pork, onion, pepper, cabbage):

  1. Sesamethe original
  2. Beansabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, garlic, ginger, pork, onion, pepper, cabbage. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).