Asian Peanut Sauce Crockpot Pork

I love Thai food. I mean I LOVE Thai food. It's so colorful, flavorful, interesting and diverse. When people ask what my favorite type of food is I always say, "Korean and Thai". I'm part Korean, so I feel like I have to show my devotion to that part of my heritage (and don't get me wrong, I LOVE Korean food too), but I find myself craving Thai food more than anything else. This recipe was inspired by this recipe from A Year of Crockpotting. It's a pork tenderloin slow cooked in the crockpot in a sweet & spicy peanut sauce. I made quite a few changes to the original recipe, including adding hot chili sauce and different vegetables. I've also found that with the exception of potatoes for pot roast, I really don't like cooking vegetables all day in a crockpot. They just turn too mushy. Part of what I like about Thai food is how vibrant and fresh the ingredients taste, and I feel like you lose all that when you crockpot your veggies all day. So, in my version I elected to sautee the veggies and add them to the dish just before serving. This turned out really well, I like the sweetness of the peanut butter with the little kick of hot chili sauce. It's nowhere near the curries we get at our favorite Thai restaurant, but it's not a bad at-home version!

ASIAN PEANUT SAUCE CROCKPOT PORK

INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs pork tenderloin or roast
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Asian hot chili sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 large sweet onion, sliced
1 large red pepper, cored and sliced
2 cups green beans
lime wedges for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place pork in crockpot. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, water, rice wine vinegar, hot chili sauce and peanut butter. Set on low, cover and cook for 6-8 hours.

2. Just before serving, in a large frypan sautee sweet onion, red bell pepper and green beans over medium high heat until tender. Stir peanut sauce until smooth, then add vegetables. Serve over rice with lime wedges for garnish.