Bacon Cabbage Stir-Fry

It's throwback Thursday so I'm going to throw it way back to an extremely simple two-ingredient dish tied to my roots.

Being Hmong, most people in this country aren't even familiar with who we are, let alone the types of food that are really associated to our culture. Because we are an ethnic minority group and do not have a country of our own, many of the dishes we eat are influenced by the countries and people nearby. My family is from Laos, so growing up we ate many Lao and Thao meals, which are full of multiple exotic ingredients and spices that I still love and crave.

However, when thinking of the truly Hmong kitchen, I believe there could be one word to describe it – simple. Most dishes consist of no more than three ingredients that are lightly flavored with salt, if even. Boiled chicken in lemongrass, boiled cabbage, boiled pork with greens (my fave!), boiled zucchini – do you see a pattern here? I will definitely add one of these boiled dishes to this blog eventually, but today’s recipe is for another favorite - bacon and cabbage stir-fry.

I’m not sure whether this stir-fry was something that was made back in Southeast Asia or whether it was put together here in the U.S., but either way, it is simple and delicious. When you need a quick lunch or dinner, whip this up in a matter of minutes and toss it over some brown rice for a healthy delicious meal. This can be made with green or purple cabbage. Baby boy has decided lately, to my dismay, that he does not like green vegetables, so I thought I’d switch it up with purple cabbage. I usually use green cabbage. He gobbled it right up! Why wouldn’t he – who doesn’t love bacon?