Spicy Pork with Beans and Rice

So, of course – leave it to me to suck at the pre-pictures of my fabulous dinner! But we are trying not to spend so much money on dinners, especially if we have perfectly good meat in the freezer to work with. There was pork something or other in the freezer so I thought I’d use that. And while I was scheming up how I could cook them, Audrey reminded me that I had already prepared them grilled on the stove with sautéed string beans and I believe we also had roasted potatoes. So then the next suggestion was to do spicy pork chops! Not just any spicy pork chops, but a version of my Grandma’s Spicy Pork! Pork tenderloin pieces for us!

Ingredients:
Several cloves of garlic – or Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Pork – cut into bite size pieces
Chile – not sure what it’s called, but pictured below
Tomato sauce
Corn Starch


So with a little bit of vegetable oil, maybe 2 T to coat the bottom of [our] super huge skillet, warm pan with oil and throw in the pork pieces with crushed/minced garlic. Then season with some salt, pepper [garlic powder] and cumin. I only cook them long enough on each side so they’re safe to eat! So really on medium/high heat, that’s about 2-4 min. on each side. Take off heat once they’re cooked. While that’s going, boil a handful of these chiles in some water: (don't forget to remove the stems!)

Boil for about 10-15 min. Then throw in a blender and liquefy! LOL.

Once that’s all ready, throw the chile mixture from the blender in the pan with the pork pieces.
In a separate bowl, depending on how much pork you have – we always have quite a bit so I use 2 – mix 8oz. cans of tomato sauce, 2-3 T of corn starch, a bit of cool water, generous amount of salt, some pepper, garlic powder and more cumin. Then throw in the pork pan and simmer for about 10 min. so that the sauce can thicken.

The first time I made this, my grandma had excess chile and gave it to me so I didn’t have to make my own. And she also used chile pequin. She also seared the pork chops and simmered it bones and all. It was hot. And so was my version. I didn’t know how to tone the heat down but still keep all that awesome flavor. Practice definitely makes perfect! Because now I know how to do it!

The second time I made it, my dad bought the wrong chile, so that one was a little bitter. And the third time I made it, it was way too HOT! I think I may have only had 5 pieces, maybe less. I could not digest it. My dad got past the heat and was able to finish his plate – but even he said it was too spicy.

4th time was a charm! And my good friend Javi was able to come over and he had some. He said he liked it, even got up for seconds! I hope he wasn’t just saying that to be nice though. Lol.

Of course this is to be served with beans and rice, as pictured below: