As a little girl, my favorite food to go out to eat was Chinese food. You know the kind. The places where there were a million and one options and they were all mediocre at best, but at seven or eight years old, you couldn’t really tell because you could quite literally get whatever you wanted. And then there was always fresh scoops of Blue Bell Cookies ‘n Cream at the end… Fast forward to decades later and I finally discovered how much of a let down these places can be. At least that was our impression the last time we went…

Still to this day however, I still have a place in my palate for some fresh Chinese-style flavors. This Dinnerly recipe for Chinese BBQ Pork Bowl with Crisp Salad really satisfied that craving while still remaining fresh and light. The only negative I can really say about this recipe is that it called for sugar in the “What You’ll Need” section, but never used it… Which isn’t really a negative at all.

We don’t really eat many pickles in our house, truth be told. The Mr doesn’t really care for them and I only like a couple varieties at best, but “quick pickles” are something I’ve been discovering and subsequently enjoying lately. This recipe starts with just that. Strips of carrot are shaved fine with a vegetable peeler and tossed with chopped garlic. The combination is set to wallow in a bath of seasoned vinegar water. The result is a lively addition to enliven any mundane salad. Next time, I think I would add paper-thin slices of purple cabbage to the mix!

Cilantro and fresh green onion blend well with the chopped romaine, but add a little bursts of flavor with each bite. Topping the salad with the pickled veg and crisp, sweet pulled pork just warm from the oven and drizzled with hoisin sauce finishes off this dish. And believe me, we finished it off!

Vivid, modern-feeling Chinese flavors blended to make this a great pick from ‘Dinnerly.’ Tell me about some of the flavors your family is drawn to…