I love a good stir fry and oriental dish, especially ones with a nice bit of a sweet sauce. This here is little exception to that rule.

The top garnish on this is actually a pair of deep fried basil leaves. I love how translucent they get, and they are actually pretty tasty as well to each with a little crunch. I saw it done before on a cooking show and was like "I should try that"... so I did! I also in this experimented a little with food coloring but needed a little more. Combined a little red and yellow to try and give an orange color to the dish but didn't really have enough red. Using dye is not something I normally do but it can be a fun addition in the kitchen, beyond just baking. Dye not included in recipe below.

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Orange Pork

The Setup
1/2 sweet onion, diced.
2 cloves garlic, minced.
4 Basil leaves, chiffonod (Roll up and then thinly sliced into small "ribbons")
4 pork chops (About 1 to 1.25 lbs worth) cut into strips.

The Mix
3/4 cup orange sauce (Okay, okay, a total cheat but I had this jar of oriental, spicy, orange sauce. Now, I DID monkey with it.)
1 Tbsp Orange extract (Optional, adds some more orange flavor though)
1 tsp Five Spice
Optionally - Add 1/4 cup fresh orange juice and a few pieces of orange peel. The Orange peel adds a nice flavor and you can either do chopped zest or do large peels and remove before serving. (Or, place on top as a garnish.)

The cooking
2 Tbsp Sesame oil

Heat Sesame oil in a skillet or wok on high for two to three minutes. Add in onions, cook for two minutes, add in garlic, five spice, Orange peel if using, cook for one minute. Add in strips of pork and cook for two minutes until browned lightly. Add in sauce and extract and cook for two to three minutes or till done as you like. (Thin strips of pork cook quickly.) Sauce should be somewhat thick. Mix in basil.

Serve over rice, garnish with sesame seeds (And optionally fried basil leaves and orange peel). Accompanied with steamed vegetables.

Enjoy!