Pork as a Condiment with Kale and Tofu

The NY Times has a great series of articles about the global business of food. It seems to be on everyone’s mind, the higher prices of food these days. I’m lucky to live in a town that has a lot of competition. Between the Farmer’s markets and Chinatown, I’m able to get great food for great prices.
Monday I had no food in my fridge, so the first thing I did was go down to Union Square to see what’s new for spring. I saw some nice asparagus, but I felt like I needed more hardcore roughage. I needed kale. Kale is great because it’s healthy, lasts for at least a week and cheap. I got a big bunch for $2.50.
Then to Chinatown for some pork—I was thinking about how greens used to be cooked with some fatty piece of pig but now most restaurants used smoked turkey because it’s healthier. I felt lazy and always frugal, so I thought it would be yummy to get some roasted pork from any one of the hanging pigs in the Chinatown vendors. I bought a plastic dish full of mixed pork for only $3.50 at the Deluxe Market. I love that place because you can order a pork bun for less than a buck and eat it as you walk out with your other purchases.
I saw the tofu lady’s daughter near the 6 train station south of Canal, but didn’t buy any tofu because before I went to Baltimore, I had to throw the week’s tofu into the freezer. When you freeze fresh tofu, obviously the water within the soy freezes and becomes ice. When you defrost it, the water can be squeezed out and it leaves a drier spongy product that’s good for holding sauces. My plan was to slice some of that and throw that into the kale and pork mix. The point was to use the fattier pieces of pork to lube the pan so the tofu wouldn't stick and to flavor the kale just a bit. The plan was to eat a ton of kale because it’s lower in fat and the tofu would be the main source of protein. I threw in some diced carrots, because it needed another color and I had some edamame in the freezer that needed to be used.
But man! That pork skin was so crispy and savory, especially delicious with the dipping sauce made of oil, ginger, scallions and salt that was tucked into the container. Yeah, I ate the healthy kale and tofu stir fry, but the pork was so good, I had to eat those crispy bits on the spot because later, they’d end up soggy.
So while I aimed for healthy and cheap in this meal, it became unhealthy as my will power waned. Oh well, at least this session of pigging out was cheap and I have plenty of leftovers for at least another two meals. I could even stretch it out further by cooking up some rice.