Spicy Pork & Mango Noodle Stir-Fry

I asked Sarah for her number. I went to the VA for PT Monday and she was there in the waiting room again and I walked over to where she was and said, "Can I buy you coffee sometime?" She said, "You mean the VA cafeteria coffee?" I said, "I was thinking somewhere better." She said, "There's a place on Grand Avenue." I said that sounded right. She wrote her number on a notepad she had in her pocket.

I called Gary immediately from the parking lot. He laughed. He said, "Finally." I said, "I don't know what I'm doing." He said, "Nobody does. That's the whole deal with other people. You show up and see what happens." I said, "What if what happens is that I'm not ready?" He said, "Then what happens is that you're not ready, and you learn what not-ready looks like, and that's information." That's Gary. Everything is information.

I texted Sarah Wednesday and we made a plan for coffee the following Monday after my PT appointment. A coffee. That's all. I've been thinking about it more than is reasonable for a Monday morning coffee, which I told Gary on Thursday, and he said, "That's normal. That's called caring about something." He said caring about something is not a problem. It's the goal.

The ranch is steady — pre-fall maintenance work, checking fences, servicing the equipment for roundup. I've been doing it all this week on autopilot while my head is somewhere else. Patrick noticed. He said nothing, which probably means he noticed even more than the noticing itself suggested.

I cooked ribs Thursday night — pork spare ribs, slow on the grill, because the slow cook requires the same attention my brain needed to be somewhere useful for three hours. The ribs came out right. The brain came out somewhere between calm and curious.

Thursday I did the ribs because the slow cook gave my brain three hours to run where it needed to go — but I’ve made this stir-fry on nights when I don’t have three hours and my head is moving too fast to wait. The spice cuts through whatever’s sitting on your chest, the mango is sweeter than you expect, and the whole thing comes together before you can overthink it — which, Gary would probably say, is the point. Some nights you need slow; some nights you need to put heat in a pan and move.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

8 oz rice noodles
1 lb pork tenderloin, thinly sliced
1 ripe mango, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
3 green onions, sliced, plus more for garnish
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon sriracha (or more to taste)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Instructions

Soak the noodles. Place rice noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak 8–10 minutes until just tender, then drain and set aside.
Make the sauce. Whisk together soy sauce, fish sauce, sriracha, lime juice, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
Sear the pork. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large wok or skillet over high heat until shimmering. Add pork in a single layer and cook without stirring 2–3 minutes until browned. Stir and cook 1 minute more. Remove pork to a plate.
Cook the aromatics and vegetables. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry 30 seconds until fragrant. Add red bell pepper and white parts of green onion; stir-fry 2–3 minutes until just tender.
Combine. Return pork to the pan. Add drained noodles and pour sauce over everything. Toss with tongs over high heat for 1–2 minutes until everything is coated and heated through.
Finish with mango. Remove pan from heat. Fold in diced mango gently so it warms without breaking down. Taste and adjust sriracha or lime juice as needed.
Serve. Divide into bowls and top with sliced green onions, fresh cilantro, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

Nutrition (per serving)

Spicy Pork & Mango Noodle Stir-Fry — When the Brain Needs Somewhere Useful to Be