Asian Pork With Noodles Soup - Just Another Reason to Use Chopsticks!

Sundays are usually errand and cleaning day around my condo, so by the time dinner becomes a thought for Shaun and I, most people have already eaten, cleaned up and are well onto dessert or a nice Sunday evening movie on the couch.  No, not in my house.  While most people I know enjoy a relatively early family meal around 4 or 5pm, we're usually just getting home from the mall or the market. 

A few Sunday's ago, I was determined to make a conscious effort to change this.  Don't get me wrong, we still had a bunch of errands to run, a storage area to clean out and a condo to clean, but things were going to be different that day.  I decided early on to do a slow-cooker dinner so I wouldn't have to tend to it all that much.  I was so confident this would work out right, that I told Shaun he could even invite our friend Matt over for dinner... a rarity on a Sunday. 

That all being said, I am normally not a fan of slow-cookers.  The only thing I find them useful for is soups and stews, as most other things always come out tasting the same to me.  So, a soup it was going to be.  I had long been eying a new recipe for an Asian slow-cooker soup and decided this was the day to try it.  I made a plan Saturday evening to get up, go to the market on Sunday morning around 9am, get everything I needed, come home, get it going so it could cook for 8 hours and do all my chores as the soup simmered away. 

Well, 11am rolled around and I was just leaving for the market.  After getting a great piece of fresh pork butt cut for me by my awesome butcher at Dave's, I was ready to get home and get cracking on my Slow-Cooker Asian Pork with Noodle Soup.

Slow-Cooker Asian Pork with Noodles Soup

• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine or dry cooking sherry
• 3 tbsp packed light brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2 pieces star anise (admittedly, this can be hard to find outside of an Asian market.  Substitute 1 tsp. Chinese 5-Spice powder in, which can be found in the spice section of most markets)
• Salt
• 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder or pork butt
• 1 head bok choy, roughly chopped
• 4 oz dried rice noodles
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, star anise or Chinese 5-Spice and 1/2 tsp salt in a 5-6 quart slow cooker and stir to combine.  Add the pork, then cover and cook on low for 8 hours.


After 8 hours, add the bok choy to the slow cooker; cover and cook about 20 more minutes.


Add the rice noodles to the slow cooker, making sure they are completely submerged.  Cover and cook 10 more minutes.
 

Remove the pork from the slow cooker using 2 large spoons or spatulas, as the meat will be very tender and will fall apart at even the most gentle touch.  Place the meat on a large cutting board or plate and shred.  Divide the shredded pork and bok choy amongst 4 bowls and ladle the broth evenly into the bowls.  Sprinkle with the cilantro.

Serve this soup in an oversize large bowl big enough to hold a hearty helping of the pork and a ladle or two of the savory broth.

So there you have it.  Even if we didn't eat early like I planned, we ate good!  The soup was a hit with Shaun and our friend Matt who graciously volunteered to come over for dinner anytime we would have him.  There's always next Sunday for another attempt at eating before 10pm.  For now, I'll just say we prefer the European dinner schedule!