Filipino Turmeric-Scented Pork Stew

I found this recipe by Chef Andrew Chase on Cookstr.com. I have no idea how close what I made turned out to what it should be. I am writing what I used below. I had to substitute some. I wish I could have found chayote squash, but didn't find any locally, so I used zucchini. I thought I had dried turmeric but it turned out I didn't. Fortunately, I happened to have some fresh turmeric roots in my freezer. I was lucky enough to find some at our local Natural Grocers one time and bought a bunch and put it in the freezer. I also used my Instant Pot. This dish received a thumbs up from both kids which almost never happens. My son couldn't stop snitching meat from the pot while I was cooking the zucchini, and my daughter really liked it as well, it didn't seem to hurt her stomach (which almost everything does).

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs boneless country pork ribs, cut into cubes
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
• 2 tbsp fresh peeled garlic cloves, smashed with the flat part of knife, then chopped
• 6 whole bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 long cinnamon stick (about 4 inch)
• 2 tsp fresh turmeric, peeled and sliced thin (substitute ground turmeric if needed)
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt (I didn't really measure, just shook some onto the pork when I started browning it)
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 bag frozen frozen pearl onions
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 small bag frozen peas
• 6 small zucchini, sliced
• 2-3 cups uncooked brown rice

Directions:

• Put on brown rice to cook in the rice cooker.
• Saute chopped onions, pearl onions, celery and carrots in olive or avocado oil. You can do this in the instant pot if you prefer, but I did it in a nonstick skillet on the stove. I just like a little more space to work and don't mind washing the extra pan. After sauteing for 10 minutes, take out of pan. (I moved them into the instant pot pan at this point).
• Add pork chunks, ginger, garlic, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon stick, black pepper and salt to frying pan. Brown meat on all sides well.
• Add rice vinegar and fish sauce to meat and continue to saute for a few more minutes.
• Scoop meat mixture into the instant pot with the previously sauteed veggies. (make sure to get all the liquid from the vinegar and fish sauce into the instant pot too).
• Wipe out frying pan with paper towel. Roast fresh turmeric slices in a dry pan.
• Add toasted turmeric to instant pot and stir meat, veggies and turmeric together.
• Add 1/2 cup of water to instant pot.
• Cook on stew setting for 30 minutes.
• Slice up zucchini while the instant pot is cooking.
• After instant pot is done, add in fresh zucchini and peas to whole mixture.
• Saute just long enough to cook the zucchini to the texture that you like it. I put this back in my skillet for this step, but you could also do it in the instant pot.
• Thicken with cornstarch and water while zucchini is cooking if you wish. I skipped doing this to make it lower carb, and it turned out nicely anyway.
• I served it over brown rice for the family, and ate without rice for me.
• I'm sure you can do this all on the stove top if you do not have an instant pot. Since I didn't have the same cut of pork that the recipe called for, I thought the instant pot would be some insurance for the meat to get tender, and it was.

note: I have an 8 quart instant pot. I don't know if it would have fit well in a 6 quart. You might try
using 1/2 the recipe the first time around for a 6 quart to make sure it will fit.

I normally wouldn't use peas because they are higher carb.  But I felt like I was already having to change this recipe enough, I hated to make another substitution before getting an idea of what the original dish was like.  So I settled for using a small amount of peas.