Stir-fried rice cakes with pork and bok choy

Wash and drain bok choy; separate stems from leaves. Cut scallion and ginger. On a separate board, slice pork across the grain into roughly 3 mm strips; clean hands and equipment afterward. Separate refrigerated rice-cake slices. Frozen or dried products need package-directed preparation first; never force a knife through frozen blocks.

Coat pork with one third of the soy sauce and all the cornstarch while you ready the pan. Reserve the remaining soy sauce.

Warm the pan over medium-high heat. Add half the oil and, before it smokes, spread and stir the pork until cooked. Transfer to a clean plate. Do not eat pork based on surface color alone; it will also simmer again later. Cook larger quantities in batches.

Add the remaining oil. Briefly sauté ginger and scallion whites until fragrant, then stir-fry the bok-choy stems until just tender. Do not blacken the aromatics. Reserve leaves and scallion greens.

Add rice cakes, pork, remaining soy sauce and the measured water. Fold gently. Once bubbling, cover over medium heat and set a 2 min check. Uncover, turn and check the centers; add a small splash of hot water and continue if firm. Do not scrape a dry pan. Follow longer package cooking requirements.

Fold in bok-choy leaves and scallion greens over medium-high heat until the leaves soften and pork is piping hot throughout. Reduce excess liquid uncovered or add a small splash if dry. Aim for a moist coating, not soup or dried-out rice cakes. Before serving, use a clean thin probe to check that the thickest pork strip reaches 75°C for at least 30 seconds; surface color and elapsed time are not substitutes.

Once the pork is fully cooked and rice cakes have no firm core, taste and serve hot. This makes one substantial main-course portion. For more servings, use batches rather than multiplying cooking timers.