Spicy Rice Noodles with Pork (except they're not spicy)

My rule of thumb for eating is "don't eat food pretending to be other food." This is actually pretty easy to follow and doesn't rule out most of the things that I like to eat anyway. For instance: Tofurkey is out. Diced tofu in an Asian dish is in. Chicken McNuggets are out. Fried chicken is in. (Heh heh heh - gotta love any dietary rule that includes fried chicken). 

I've tried to extend this to gluten-free cooking as much as possible. Rather than messing around with substitutions, which only make me notice the differences/deficiencies, I try to find recipes that don't call for gluten-containing ingredients in the first place, or gluten-free versions of ingredients in which you're not going to notice the difference. Tamari is a great example of this - is anyone going to be able to tell it from regular soy sauce? Probably not. Is anyone going to say that gluten-free bread is just as delicious and virtually indistinguishable from an loaf of wheat-containing French bread? Never in this lifetime. So swapping out a gluten-free flour blend on the aforementioned fried chicken works for me, because the coating is a relatively minor part of the recipe. I just don't notice the difference. I think a lot of people who are struggling with eliminating gluten from their diets end up feeling sad when the GF version of a favorite food just doesn't measure up to the regular version and all they taste is the difference. It's like someone handing you an RC Cola when you asked for a Coke.   

It would be an understatement to point out this has been an uphill battle with GF cooking. And I do talk about substitutions fairly often, because completely changing over to a never-meant-to-contain-David's-list-of-forbidden-foods diet would hugely limit our options. In the past 4 or 5 years, we've found 2 GF versions of favorite foods that we all prefer to the wheat-containing version: pretzels and spaghetti. 

We did a side-by-side comparison of spaghetti last year; I made a box of GF spaghetti and a box of wheat spaghetti, and Anna and I tried them both. Hands-down, the GF spaghetti was far tastier. The wheat version was nothing more than a vehicle for the sauce, which seems like sort of a wasted opportunity. 

So knowing that I love GF spaghetti: what is it with me and rice noodle recipes these days?

I came across this recipe last week - it's an oldie but goodie, something that we used to make all the time and stopped for no apparent reason. I've made it twice in the last 8 days and the kids ate thirds, so I think it's going to make it back into the regular rotation. I haven't tried it with the fresh rice noodles, as the dried work just fine for this, but that would be a good variation in the unlikely event that  I decide ladna is no longer my favorite noodle dish. Aside from the basil these are all ingredients I'm likely to have on hand; if your house actually receives sunlight at any point during the day and you can grow herbs in your kitchen (not that I'm jealous or anything....) this dinner alone is justification for growing basil. You can have this on the table in well under half an hour - the amount of time required to bring the water to a boil is the longest part of this recipe. 

I'm realizing how many of my favorite recipes come from How to Cook Everything. I've added "meet Mark Bittman" to my bucket list. 

Spicy Pork Noodles 

1 package fettucine-width dried rice noodles

2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil

1 tablespoon (or more!) minced garlic

1/2 lb. ground pork (any ground meat will work but this is my favorite)

1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari or soy sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce 

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 - 3/4 cup basil leaves, shredded

Soak the rice noodles in warm water to soften OR boil according to the package directions, which takes the same amount of time but feels faster. Drain, rinse, and toss with 1 tablespoon of the oil (do *not* forget this part. Seriously.) 

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat, then add the garlic and stir for about a minute (if you want these to be spicy Spicy Pork Noodles, add 5-6 dried red chiles the pan too). Add the meat and cook, stirring to break up any large pieces. 

When the meat is cooked through, add the tamari, fish sauce, and sugar and stir to combine. Add the rice noodles and stir until the noodles are completely coated with the sauce. Add the rice vinegar and basil, give it another good stir, and serve.