Polish-Style Braised Pork Shoulder Chops/Steaks

I haven't been feeling up to much cooking lately. Funny how being nauseous and exhausted 24/7 will do that! I did manage to make one dinner this week though. Reiver had found some pork shoulder chops for a good price, so I cast about for something tasty to do with them and hit upon this recipe. Served it with some roast potatoes and a beet salad and it was excellent!

The original recipe just calls for pork and onions, with optional mushrooms as an additional extra. I added the mushrooms and also threw in some carrots and peas toward the end of cooking, both to bulk it up a bit and to boost our veggie intake. So, in the end, it came out as what basically amounted to a pork stew.

We both really liked this one. Although I think I would add a bit more flour next time since, with only 1 Tbsp. of flour, the sauce didn't thicken up very much at all. Other than that, though, it was lovely!

Polish-Style Braised Pork Shoulder Chops

Slightly adapted from Everyday Healthy Recipes

Ingredients

• 700g-1kg pork shoulder chops/steaks
• 1 Tbsp. oil (optional, see below)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 Tbsp. paprika (sweet or hot according to preference)
• 1/2 Tbsp. mixed dried herbs¹
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 allspice berries
• 3 onions, halved and sliced thick
• 3 cloves garlic, halved or chopped
• ~100g white or cremini mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 1 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock, divided
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon or Roman mustard
• 1 tsp. light soy sauce or Maggi sauce
• 1/2 tsp. honey (optional)
• 1-2 Tbsp. flour
• 2-3 carrots, cut into coins (optional)
• 1 c. frozen peas (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F).
2. If the pork has a fat cap, trim it off.
3. If you have trimmed fat, render out some of the lard to cook with. Otherwise, heat up 1 Tbsp. of oil in a Dutch oven.
4. Combine the salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and herbs and use this mix to season the pork on both sides.
5. Sear the pork over medium heat for ~2 minutes on each side.
6. Add the bay leaf, allspice berries, onions, and garlic.
7. Add the mushrooms (if using).
8. Pour in ~1 c. of the stock.
9. Cover and transfer to oven for 1 hour.
10. Combine the mustard, soy sauce, honey (if using), flour, and a small amount of the remaining stock and stir to combine.
11. Add the remaining stock to the mixture to form a sauce.
12. Pour the sauce into the Dutch oven along with the meat and onions and do your best to stir it in.
13. Add the carrots and peas (if using).
14. Cover and return to oven for an additional 40 minutes.
15. Serve with potatoes or rice and/or a vegetable side of your choice.

¹ The original recipe calls for herbes de Province. I didn't have any, so I used a mix of Italian seasoning and dried tarragon. If you're making your own blend from scratch, you could consider including basil, fennel seeds, lavender (very sparingly!), marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, savoury, and/or thyme. ^Back

This is meant to be made with raw greens, but I decided that I'd prefer them lightly wilted. We also ended up forgetting to add the dressing to the salad... whoops! It was still delicious, but I definitely think it would've been better with the dressing.

The pork belly that I had was very fatty, so I actually used only ~450g of pork belly and filled in the rest with pieces of pork chops as I felt like this gave a better fat-to-lean ratio. I also swapped out the tamari that the original recipe called for for a mixture of dark and light soy sauce.

Salad of Asian Greens with Soy-Glazed Pork Belly

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Salad

• 3 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 900g pork belly, skin removed
• 3 heads bok choy, thoroughly washed and thinly sliced
• 1/2 small head cabbage, shredded
• 2-4 ribs celery, finely chopped
• 1-2 green onion tops, sliced (optional)

Dressing

• 2 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. rice wine vinegar

Directions

1. Combine the dark soy, light soy, honey, and sesame oil and mix well.
2. Add the pork belly, turn to coat, cover, and chill for 4-12 hours.
3. Meanwhile, combine the soy sauce, honey, sesame, and vinegar for the dressing and mix well.
4. Heat a pan over medium to medium-high heat.
5. Add the pork belly and sear on all sides, basting as it cooks.
6. Keep cooking, reducing heat if necessary, until meat is cooked through.
7. Transfer to a cutting board and slice.
8. Pour off any fat in the pan.
9. If the pork belly still seems excessively fatty, return the slices to the pan and cook until more of the fat has rendered off. Remove the pork from the pan and set aside.
10. Pour any residual marinade into the pan and cook for a few seconds.
11. Add the bok choy, cabbage, and celery and cook until slightly wilted.
12. Transfer the greens to a bowl and toss with the dressing.
13. Top with the pork belly and green onions (if using) and serve.

Batata Dukkar Vindaloo (Potato Pork Vindaloo)

I had gotten some "stewing pork" on sale at some point and then tossed it in the freezer and forgot about it. Having been reminded of its existence, I decided it was high time I did something with it! We also have a surplus of potatoes to use up right now. So this curry seemed pretty much perfect to use up ingredients on hand. Plus, who doesn't love a vindaloo?!

I made the mildest version of this curry: 3 dried chilies and 1 fresh. I feel like this produced quite a pleasant heat level. The Kidlet found it a bit on the spicy side, but she still ate all of her portion. If you would like a milder dish, you can either reduce the chilies a bit further or, alternatively, simply serve it topped with a little plain yogurt. The yogurt will have a moderating effect on the heat as well as adding a bit of extra nutrition.

I didn't find that the potatoes browned up as much as Iyer described, but they were still delicious! I think I'd be tempted to slice them slightly thicker next time. Iyer simply said "thinly sliced", so I went for very thin; probably only ~2mm. Maybe a 4mm thickness would have been better. That would've allowed for fewer slices so that each one could've had more time in contact with the pan. Something to experiment with...

Batata Dukkar Vindaloo

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. oil, divided
• ~700g potatoes, halved and sliced 3-4mm thick
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 6 whole cloves
• 3-5 dried red cayenne, arbol, or Thai chilies
• 1 (7cm) cinnamon stick, broken into smaller pieces
• 1/2 c. cider or malt vinegar
• 8-9 cloves garlic
• 2 onions, 1 chopped, 1 halved and sliced
• 1-2 fresh green Thai, serrano, or finger chilies, sliced
• ~600g stewing pork
• 1 c. water, divided
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat 2 Tbsp. of the oil over medium heat.
2. Add the potatoes and fry until browned on both sides (15-20 minutes), flipping once or twice during cooking. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the coriander, cumin, mustard, pepper, cloves, dried chilies, and cinnamon to the now-empty pan and cook until fragrant (~1 minute). Transfer spices to a blender jar.
4. Add the vinegar, garlic, and chopped onion to the blender jar with the spices and purée.
5. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. of oil to the pan and heat over medium heat.
6. Add the sliced onion and fresh chilies and cook until softened (3-5 minutes).
7. Add the pork and sear on all sides (~5 minutes).
8. Add the sauce from the blender jar.
9. Add 1/2 c. water to the blender jar, swish it out, and add it to the pan.
10. Stir in the salt and turmeric and bring to a boil.
11. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
12. Uncover, add the fried potatoes and the remaining 1/2 c. of water.
13. Simmer until potatoes are fully cooked and sauce is thickened (5-10 minutes).
14. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with rice, plain yogurt or raita, your favourite flatbreads, and vegetable curries.

粽子 (zòngzǐ) are sticky rice dumplings. They're the tetrahedral ones that you see wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied up with string. They are made with glutinous rice, can be savoury or sweet, and are traditionally eaten during 端午节 (duānwǔ jié) or Dragon Boat Festival, which occurs sometime between late May and mid-June each year.¹

Unlike "real" 粽子, this version is not wrapped into individual bamboo leaf packets before steaming or boiling. Instead, all of the ingredients are mixed together in a leaf-lined steamer basket. This gives you all of the same flavours without going to the effort of making individual dumplings.

I didn't have any dried bamboo leaves on hand and I did have a surplus of lettuce. So I just ended up using that to line my steamer basket. This did not, of course, impart any of the traditional bamboo flavour to the rice, but it worked just fine to prevent the rice from sticking to its cooking vessel. And we still got to enjoy all of the other flavours in the rice. So, all-in-all, I'd call this a success. Even if not necessarily a super traditional one.

Lazy Zongzi Rice

Slightly adapted from The Woks of Life

Ingredients

Rice

• 1 1/2 c. uncooked glutinous (sticky/sweet) rice
• 8-10 dried bamboo leaves
• 1/2 c. shelled raw peanuts (without skin)
• 3-5 Chinese sausages, sliced thin
• 3-4 green onions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt

Pork Belly

• 450g pork belly², cut into 1cm dice
• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. Shaoxing wine (绍兴酒)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. white peppercorns, ground

Directions

1. Place the rice in a large bowl with enough water to cover by at least 2-3cm. Cover and soak for at least 6 hours or as long as overnight.
2. Soak the bamboo leaves for at least 3 hours (or overnight).
3. Soak the peanuts for 1 hour, then boil for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine the pork belly, light soy, salt, dark soy, wine, sugar, and white pepper and mix well. Cover and chill for 1-2 hours.
5. Drain the rice and the peanuts.
6. Combine the rice, peanuts, Chinese sausages, green onions, soy sauce, and salt and mix well.
7. Line a steamer basket with some of the bamboo leaves.
8. Place a layer of rice over the leaves, followed by a layer of pork belly. Repeat once more.
9. Cover the last layer of pork belly with the remaining bamboo leaves.
10. Place the steamer basket into a pot/steamer over cold water.
11. Cover, bring to a boil, and steam for 60-90 minutes. Or, if pressure steaming, cook on high pressure for 45 minutes with a 10-minute natural release.
12. Keep warm until ready to serve. (Rice will harden when cooled.)

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¹ Meaning that I even managed to make this dish at a vaguely seasonally appropriate time! ^Back
2 The original recipe only called for 225g of pork belly, but I had extra, so I used it all and just scaled up the marinade accordingly. I liked these proportions, but feel free to use more or less as you see fit. ^Back

I had intended to make some "lazy" steamed zongzi rice for dinner last night. But I forgot to put the rice in to soak. So that particular recipe had to be bumped to tonight and I needed to pick something else to make for dinner yesterday. Luckily I had another recipe queued up that was much quicker and easier to make. All that's required is a quick stir-fry of some pork belly with ginger and mushrooms, then just add a bit of sauce and water and stir in some rice and green onions. Easy peasy!

I reduced the shiitake mushrooms slightly for my rendition because I had a huge pile of cremini mushrooms in the fridge and liked the idea of using a mix. I also tossed in the last couple of handfuls of baby spinach. It was really enough veg for the amount of rice, but at least it was something and at least it used it up. If I'd been thinking, I would've thrown in some peas as well, but it didn't occur to me until too late. Maybe next time.

Photo goes here.

Pork Belly and Mushroom Rice

Slightly adapted from The Woks of Life

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 Tbsp. minced ginger or ginger paste
• 250g pork belly, cut into 1cm dice
• 4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced (soaking water reserved)
• 6-8 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Shaoxing wine (绍兴酒)
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 3/4 c. mushroom soaking water
• 1 c. fresh or frozen peas (optional)
• 4 c. cooked rice
• 1-2 scallions, chopped

Directions

1. Heat wok over medium heat.
2. Drizzle in oil and swirl to coat.
3. Add ginger and stir-fry for a minute or two.
4. Add pork belly and increase heat to medium-high. Stiry-fry until pork starts to get crispy (3-5 minutes).
5. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry for another 3-4 minutes.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the wine, sugar, light soy, dark soy, mushroom soaking water, and peas (if using).
7. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
9. Add the rice and green onions and mix very well.
10. Serve as-is or topped with a fried egg and a bit of Laoganma.

陕西臊子面 (Shaanxi Saozi Mian)

The name of this dish literally translates as "Shaanxi sauce noodles". The final product is a delicious lightly spicy, savoury, and sour noodle soup. Full of pork belly, fried tofu puffs, carrots, potatoes, wood ear fungus, and lily blossoms. But the first step is making the intensely flavourful meat sauce. Once the concoction is complete, you make the rest of the soup and then add the sauce, which then gets ladelled over freshly cooked noodles and topped with thin ribbons of omelette and a mix of garlic chives and green onions. The finished product is incredibly delicious and satisfying. This one is definitely a keeper!

Hanzi: 陕西臊子面
Pinyin: Shǎnxī sàozǐ miàn
English: Shaanxi sauce noodles

陕西臊子面

Slightly adapted from The Woks of Life

Ingredients

Meat Sauce

• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 star anise
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 Tbsp. minced ginger or ginger paste
• 450g pork belly, cut into 5mm dice
• 2 Tbsp. 老干妈 (Laoganma)¹
• 1/4 c. 绍兴酒 (Shaoxing wine)
• 1/2 c. black vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp. five-spice powder
• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 2 tsp. sugar

Soup

• 1-2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 Tbsp. minced ginger or ginger paste
• 1/2-3/4 c. diced carrots
• ~1 c. diced potatoes
• 20g dried wood ear fungus, rehydrated
• 5-6g dried lily blossoms, rehydrated
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 6-8 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 8 fried soy puffs, quartered

Toppings

• 1 tsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
• 4 tsp. water
• 2 large eggs
• 1-2 tsp. oil
• 450g dried spaghettini or other thin wheat noodles
• 1/3-1/2 c. chopped garlic chives
• 1-2 green onions, chopped

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-low heat.
2. Add the cinnamon stick, star anise, and bay leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, until oil is infused (2-3 minutes).
3. Add the ginger and pork belly, increase heat to medium, and cook until meat is opaque.
4. Add the Laoganma (or chiles and salt, if using) and cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Add the Shaoxing wine, vinegar, five-spice powder, soy sauce, and sugar and bring to a boil.
6. Lower heat slightly and cook until sauce is slightly reduced (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.
7. Heat the oil for the soup over medium heat.
8. Add the ginger and stir-fry for 30-60 seconds.
9. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
10. Drain and chop the wood ear fungus and the lily blossoms and add them to the pot with the vegetables.
11. Add the oyster sauce and cook for 2-3 minutes.
12. Add the stock, soy puffs, and the meat sauce prepared earlier and bring to a boil.
13. Simmer for 10 minutes.
14. Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch with the water and then beat in the eggs.
15. Heat the remaining oil over medium heat.
16. Pour in the egg mixture and cook until eggs have set.
17. Carefully flip and cook for ~30 seconds on the other side.
18. Remove omelette from pan and cut into ribbons. Set aside.
19. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and cook the noodles according to package directions. Pasta should be fairly al dente and not too soft.
20. Drain noodles and portion out into bowls.
21. Ladel a generous quantity of the soup over the noodles.
22. Top soup with some omelette ribbons, garlic chives, and green onions and serve immediately.

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¹ The original recipe called for 1/4 c. of oil (rather than just 2 Tbsp.) here + 2 Tbsp. Sichuan chile flakes and 1 tsp. of salt. I didn't have any Sichuan chile flakes and didn't want to try to go out and get yet another variety of chiles, so I reduced the oil, omitted the salt, and swapped out the chile flakes for the same amount of 老干妈. This gave me the heat, salt, and extra oil all in one. And, I must say, I'm quite happy with the results. Would definitely be happy to go that route again! ^Back

This made for a phenomenal brunch! The flavours were great and it looked very nice too. The only slightly hiccough (and I do mean slight) was that, in order to get the egg whites to fully set, I had to cook it until the yolks were also hard. They were still delicious. It just wasn't the set white, runny yolk result that I'd been hoping for. But, given how this one went, I think you'd need to cook the whites and yolks separately for that. That said, it was good enough like this that I probably wouldn't be inclined to bother most of the time. And, I will admit: having the yolks fully set did make it easier to serve.

I've given ranges for a lot of the ingredients here because I do feel that you have a fair bit of flexibility. Our green onions were large, so I only ended up using three. But with smaller ones, I think that the full six called for in the recipe would have been more appropriate. The recipe also called for just over 100g of each kind of cheese. I used 100 and felt that was very generous. I think that I probably could've gotten away with half that amount and still been quite happy. That said, maximum cheese was delicious! And I followed a similar logic with the asparagus, bacon, and garlic. For the eggs, the original recipe actually called for 4-6. But I had a very large pie plate and, even with six eggs, it still looked a bit sparse, so I tossed in an extra two and that seemed just about right.

Asparagus, Corn, and Egg Tart

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 recipe cornmeal shortcrust pastry
• 100-150g asparagus, trimmed
• 100-150g pancetta or bacon, chopped
• 3-6 green onions, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c. frozen corn kernels
• 50-100g mozzarella cheese, grated
• 50-100g cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/3 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 6-8 large eggs
• 1/2 c. sunflower or similar sprouts (optional)

Directions

1. Roll out the pastry and use it to line a 23cm (9") deep-dish pie plate or 25cm (10") tart tin. Chill for 20-30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
3. Line the pie shell with baking paper, fill with pie weights, and blind bake for 12 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus for 1-2 minutes and then drain and shock in cold water.
5. Cook the pancetta/bacon over medium heat for a few minutes, then add the green onion and garlic and cook until softened (5 minutes + 3-5 minutes).
6. Add the corn and cook for another minute or so.
7. Remove the paper and pie weights from the pastry shell and spread the bacon mixture in an even layer in the bottom of the pie shell.
8. Place the asparagus on top and sprinkle with the cheese.
9. Drizzle with the half-and-half and season to taste with pepper.
10. Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes.
11. Crack the eggs into the tart, doing your best to space them evenly. If it's important to you to have set whites and runny yolks, then separate the yolks from the whites and pour the whites on first. Set the yolks aside for now.
12. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
13. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes.
14. If you reserved the yolks, add them now, doing your best to space them evenly atop the tart.
15. Return to oven, turn off heat, and allow to sit in hot oven for 10 minutes to finish setting whites and thicken yolks.
16. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
17. Garnish with sprouts (if using), cut into wedges, and serve.

I appreciate how quickly this recipe comes together. And the fact that it gets you a protein and a vegetable is nice as well. I just sautéed up a bunch of zucchini to go with it and our dinner was complete!

Molasses-Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potatoes

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. molasses
• 1/4 c. Roman mustard
• 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, minced
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes, divided
• 680g sweet potatoes, cut into 1cm thick discs (unpeeled)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground and divided
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 2 pork tenderloins (~350g each)
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock

Directions

1. Preheat oven 200°C (400°F).
2. Combine molasses, mustard, rosemary, and 1/2 tsp. pepper flakes and mix well. Set aside.
3. Toss sweet potatoes with 2 Tbsp. oil, 1/2 tsp. sea salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper and spread out on a baking sheet.
4. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 Tbsp. oil over medium heat.
6. Season pork with remaining salt and pepper and sear on all sides (6-8 minutes).
7. Clear a space on the centre of the baking sheet and place pork in the cleared space.
8. Brush pork and sweet potatoes with molasses sauce.
9. Roast for 15 more minutes.
10. Return pan to heat and add shallot.
11. Cook until shallot softens (~3 minutes).
12. Add remaining sauce and chicken stock to pan and bring to a boil.
13. Cook until sauce thickens (~5 minutes).
14. Slice pork, top with sauce, and serve with sweet potatoes.

Saag Pork (Spinach and Pork Curry)

I don't make pork curries very often. I don't really associate pork with Indian cuisine and it always feels slightly incongruous to me. I tend to default to legume, vegetable, and/or chicken curries. Sometimes I'll do beef, lamb, or fish depending on what I have on hand or what's on sale at the grocery store that week. But pork just doesn't really figure into things.

That said, Iyer does have a decent-sized pork section in the meat chapter of 660 Curries. And I had some pork tenderloins in the freezer. I got them with a completely different recipe in mind, but I keep not quite getting to it, so I figured I might as well just turn them into curries and try to do the other recipe some other time when I have a bit more bandwidth for meal planning.

I appreciated that this was an incredibly simple recipe that required very little prep and cooked quickly. Plus it used up the leftover tomato in the fridge. And gave us some greens to help balance the meal. So, a win all 'round!

Saag Pork

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 500g pork tenderloin, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1/4 c. whipping (35%) cream
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 2 tsp. bin bhuna hua garam masala
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1-2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/2 c. tomato sauce¹
• 300g chopped frozen spinach

Directions

1. Combine the pork, cream, garlic paste, garam masala, and salt and mix well.
2. Cover and chill for at least half an hour or as long as 2 hours.
3. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add cumin seeds and sizzle for 15-30 seconds.
5. Add the pork along with its marinade and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes.
6. Add the tomato sauce and reduce heat to medium.
7. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for ~15 minutes.
8. Add the spinach, cover, and cook until heated through (~5 minutes).
9. Stir and cook, covered, for another 10 minutes or so.

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¹ I didn't have any ready-made tomato sauce, but I did have some leftover canned diced tomato. I just used that and added a little bit of salt, pepper, basil, garlic, and bottle masala to approximate a sauce. ^Back

Pork Batata Curry (Pork and Potato Curry)

The last pork curry that I made only used up half of the package of pork tenderloin that I'd thawed out, which seemed like a good excuse to go hunting through the book for another pork curry to try later in the week. I ended up settling on this one because it looked pleasingly easy and included at least a few veggies. It's still not a balanced meal on its own, but it at least contains a little more than just a big pile of spiced meat. (Not that those sorts of curries aren't delicious, I just like trying to work as many veggies into the meal as possible.)

Pork Batata Curry

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 500g pork tenderloin, cubed
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. balchao masala
• 1 tsp. ground Deggi chilies (or 1/2 tsp. each ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies and sweet paprika)
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
• 1 russet (or other floury) potato, cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 onion, cut into 1cm cubes
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 tsp. rice flour (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the pork, ginger paste, garlic paste, and balchao masala and cook, stirring often, until pork sears (5-7 minutes).
3. Add the Deggi chilies and cook for another 15-30 seconds.
4. Add the carrot, potato, onion, and salt and stir to combine.
5. Cook, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes.
6. Add the water and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
8. If you would like a thicker sauce, stir in the rice flour and continue to cook until potatoes are fork tender (3-5 minutes).
9. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Sacheon Jjajang (Spicy Jjajangmyeon)

Jjajangmyeon is a popular Korean noodle dish typically made with Chinese-style noodles and a fried black bean sauce. It is closely related to the Chinese 炸酱面 (zhá jiàng miàn). This variant does not involve any black bean paste. It is a somewhat spicier "Sichuan" version that incorporates spicy Sichuan bean paste (辣豆瓣酱 - là dòu bàn jiàng) into the sauce instead.

I still have yet to try the traditional jjajangmyeon, but this Sacheon/Sichuan version was definitely a big hit! TF and the Kidlet are currently threatening to duel for the leftovers, so I'll take that as a compliment and call it a success.

Aaron recommends making this with pork belly, but advises that other (preferably fatty) cuts of meat are also acceptable. I ended up using extra lean ground beef. (Not fatty, I know, but I'm still trying to watch my weight, so I compromised a bit.) I think shiitake mushrooms would also work well in the sauce if you wanted to go for a vegetarian option. Beyond Meat or even firm tofu might also be viable options.

We didn't have any of the recommended zhungwhamyeon or udon noodles on hand, so we ended up going with an Italian-style wheat noodle instead. We had an unusual, long rigatoni in the cupboard, so I decided to give that a try and I think it worked well here. That said, I think cavitapi or buccatini would also be good choices if you didn't have any of the preferred noodle types on hand. Aaron even suggests serving the sauce with rice if you run out of pasta. So really, the sky's the limit and you have lots of options!

Sacheon Jjajang

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

ingredients

Sauce

• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 1 Tbsp. dasida (Korean beef stock powder)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. 辣豆瓣酱 (spicy Sichuan bean paste)
• 2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp. mirin

Everything Else

• 2 Tbsp. chili oil
• 450g ground beef (or sliced pork belly)
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 150g cabbage, chopped
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn oil
• 450g udon or noodles of your choice
• 1/2 cucumber, julienned
• 1 c. green peas¹ (optional)
• danmuji, chopped
• 6 large eggs, fried (preferably sunny-side up)

Directions

1. Combine all sauce ingredients and mix well. Set aside.
2. Heat a wok over medium-high heat.
3. Drizzle in the chili oil.
4. Add the beef and cook, breaking up chunks, until no longer pink (1-2 minutes).
5. Add green onions, garlic, and ginger and stiry-fry for another 2 minutes.
6. Add onion and cabbage and stir-fry until softened (~2 minutes longer).
7. Pour in sauce and stir-fry for another minute or so.
8. Mix cornstarch with water to make a slurry.
9. Pour the slurry into the wok and stir-fry until thickened.
10. Boil and drain the pasta.
11. Toss the pasta with the sauce.
12. Mix in the Sichuan peppercorn oil.
13. Divide the noodles into bowls.
14. Top each portion with a fried egg, some cucumber, and some danmuji.
15. Mix well before eating.

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Variants

Vegetarian Version

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable stock powder or concentrate
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. 辣豆瓣酱 (spicy Sichuan bean paste)
• 2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp. mirin

Everything Else

• 2 Tbsp. chili oil
• 450g shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 150g cabbage, chopped
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 tsp. Sichuan peppercorn oil
• 450g udon or noodles of your choice
• 1/2 cucumber, julienned
• 1 c. green peas¹ (optional)
• danmuji, chopped
• 6 large eggs, fried (preferably sunny-side up)

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¹ Aaron recommends serving the noodles topped with julienned cucumber, but does suggest green peas as a possible alternative. I was thinking that it might be interesting to try both next time. ^Back

I don't tend to eat pork very often, but they had packs of boneless pork chops on sale the other day, so I grabbed one on spec. I knew I still had lots of pork recipes waiting to be tried, so it would definitely get used eventually. Then I forgot to cancel or tweak last week's produce basket and we ended up with a surprise leek. And that fit into this braised pork chop recipe very nicely!

The recipe as written calls for port, but I didn't want to go out and get a whole bottle just for the 1/4 c. that I needed for the sauce. So I just added a bit of brown sugar to some red wine and called it a day. (I probably should have gotten the port, since I have other recipes that call for it and I'm sure it would've gotten used up eventually, but I was running short on time and just went with the substitute this time around.)

Braised Pork Chops with Cherries and Leeks

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1kg pork chops (pref. bone-in)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped (or 1/2 Tbsp. dried rosemary, ground)
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 2 leeks, white parts only, halved and sliced
• 1 c. chicken stock
• 1/4 c. port
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 c. fresh pitted cherries, halved (or 1/2 c. dried cherries)
• 1-2 tsp. cornstarch (optional)

Directions

1. Season the pork chops with salt, pepper, and rosemary.
2. Melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter over medium heat.
3. Add the pork chops and sear on both sides.
4. Remove from pan and set aside.
5. Melt the remaining 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat.
6. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened.
7. Add the chicken stock and deglaze the pan.
8. Add the port, vinegar, and cherries.
9. Return the pork to the pan. Nestle it into the sauce and spoon the leeks and cherries over.
10. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low.
11. Simmer until pork is cooked through (15-20 minutes).
12. If you would like a thicker sauce: remove the pork from the pan and sift some cornstarch into the sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened.
13. Serve the pork chops topped with the sauce. Goes well with mashed root vegetables.

This is simple and a bit light on veggies, but it is very tasty. I really like the combination of noodles and grilled (or broiled) pork tenderloin. And adding some roasted broccoli or braised bok choy can help round out the meal and make it a little more balanced.

Pork Noodle Salad

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredeints

• 2 pork tenderloins (~340g each)
• 1 Tbsp. peanut (or other neutral) oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 2 tsp. red wine vinegar¹
• 1 tsp. ginger paste
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 3-4 drops sriracha
• 450g fresh Chinese egg noodles (or 300g dried spaghetti)²
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 serrano or Thai chile, seeded and minced
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4-1/3 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat a charcoal grill or oven broiler for high/direct heat cooking.
2. Brush the tenderloins with the peanut oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Cook the tenderloins until just cooked through and seared on all sides, turning every few minutes (~15 minutes total).
4. Meanwhile, whisk together the sesame oil, lime juice, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger paste, sugar, and sriracha.
5. Cook and drain the noodles and toss with the dressing.
6. Add the bell pepper, chile, cilantro, parsley, and sesame seeds and toss to combine.
7. Slice the pork and add it to the salad.

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¹ The original recipe calls for sherry vinegar. I don't generally keep that on hand, so I used my go-to substitute of red wine vinegar. That said, next time I'd be tempted to try rice vinegar instead. ^Back
2 I forgot to adjust for fresh vs. dried pasta in my rendition, so I used a whole pound of dried spaghetti for my noodle salad. This actually worked out just fine, but it was very lightly dressed and obviously a bit heavier on the starch than the default proportions would have been. ^Back

This is a tasty stew, but I feel like it needed a bit more... something to perk it up a bit. You would think that with half a kilo of chorizo in the pot, it would have plenty of savoury umami and fat and spice and all that good stuff and it certainly smelled incredible, but -- for me at least -- the flavour didn't quite live up to what the aroma promised. Still... it was decent and very easy to throw together. Although it wasn't remotely ready in the time indicated in the recipe. I don't know if the InstantPot's low is just dramatically lower than whatever slow cooker they were using or what, but even after eight hours the beans were still fairly firm. And I even bumped the temperature up to "medium" for the last four hours of that cook time!

In the end it took a full 12 hours to cook! Four each on low, medium, and high. And it then got left on the highest "keep warm" temperature overnight as well. Next time I think I'd just start it on "slow cook - high" and aim for maybe a six-hour cook time. I'd probably also add a jalapeño or two as well. And maybe a bit of creole seasoning. Hopefully that would help round out the flavours a bit.

Red Bean and Chorizo Stew

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 450g dried red kidney beans
• 2 Tbsp. bacon fat
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1-2 jalape&ntile;os, minced (optional)
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 c. beef or chicken stock, divided
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. red chile flakes
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. creole seasoning (optional)
• 3 bay leaves
• 500g cured Spanish-style chorizo, sliced

Directions

1. Place the beans in a bowl and add enough water to cover by at least 3-4cm. Cover and let soak overnight.
2. The next day, melt the bacon fat over medium heat ("sauté - medium" in the InstantPot).
3. Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper cook until softened and beginning to brown (5-7 minutes).
4. Add the garlic and jalapeños (if using) and cook for another minute or two.
5. Pour in 1 c. of the stock and scrape the bottom to deglaze the pot.
6. Drain the beans and add them to the pot.
7. Add the remaining stock, vinegar, chile flakes, pepper, creole seasoning (if using), bay leaves, and chorizo.
8. Stir to combine, cover, and slow cook on high for 6-8 hours.
9. Serve with rice and/or crusty bread and season with Tabasco or similar hot sauce(s).

I decided to get out the wok and do something a little bit different for breakfast this morning. Simmons suggests making this with dried black fungus, dried enoki, and fresh spinach. I didn't have any dried enoki (golden needle mushrooms) or fresh spinach, so I did my version with dried shiitakes and frozen spinach. I also swapped out the pork tenderloin for some leftover cumin-roasted pork hock that we had in the fridge. We opted to serve our egg-y concoction on pitas with a bit of Laoganma (老干妈) and it was excellent!

Mu Shu Pork-Style Scrambled Eggs

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. dried black fungus
• 4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms (Chinese black mushrooms)
• 2 Tbsp. chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. + 1/2 tsp. light soy sauce, divided
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. sesame oil, divided
• 1 Tbsp. minced ginger
• ~1/2 c. chopped cooked pork
• 300g frozen spinach, thawed
• Chinese pancakes, crêpes, or other flatbreads, to serve
• Laoganma (老干妈), to serve

Directions

1. Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour boiling water over them to cover. Set aside to soak for at least 30 minutes.
2. Drain, trim, and slice mushrooms.
3. Combine chicken stock, 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl and mix well.
4. Beat eggs with remaining 1/2 tsp. of soy sauce.
5. Heat wok over medium-high heat.
6. Drizzle in 1/2 Tbsp. of sesame oil and swirl to coat wok.
7. Pour in eggs and reduce heat to medium.
8. Cook, stirring occasionally, until eggs are just cooked. Transfer eggs to bowl and set aside.
9. Heat another 1/2 Tbsp. of oil over medium heat and add the ginger. Stir-fry for 30-60 seconds.
10. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry for a minute or two. Transfer to bowl with eggs.
11. Add remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of oil to the wok.
12. Add the pork and stir-fry for 30-60 seconds.
13. Pour in the stock mixture and toss to coat pork.
14. Add spinach and cook until excess moisture has evaporated (1-2 minutes).
15. Return the eggs and mushrooms to the wok and stir-fry for another minute or two.
16. Remove from heat.
17. Serve on flatbread of choice and top with Laoganma.

Peach and mustard is a good combo with pork. This recipe reminds me a bit of our Christmas ham recipe. This just uses an uncured pork shoulder rather than ham and makes the sauce with lots of tomato and vinegar to create something more like a barbecue sauce.

I think this would've been beautiful done on the barbecue, but it's cold and I was tired, so I just did it in the oven. I think it really would have benefitted from a long, slow, cooking over indirect heat on the grill. As it was, I found I needed to tweak the oven cooking a bit.

I initially just cooked it at 300°F for 5 hours as directed in the recipe, but I failed to check the internal temperature before removing it from the oven and, after resting it for a while, TF found that it was a bit undercooked when she went to shred the meat. So, back into the oven it went! We ended up nudging the temperature up to 350°F and cooking it for another hour. That did the job and got it up to the desired internal temperature, but I think it would've been nice with an even longer cook time. We were just hungry and tired and wanted to get it done, so we rolled with it as it was.

Pulled Pork with Peach-Mustard Sauce

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in pork shoulder (~3kg)
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
• 1 Tbsp. mustard seeds
• 2 c. cider vinegar, divided
• 1 c. water
• 7 onions, 4 sliced, 3 chopped
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter¹
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 400mL crushed tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 c. peach jam
• 1/2 c. Roman mustard² or Dijon mustard
• 1/2 c. bourbon³
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp. hotsauce
• buns, to serve
• coleslaw, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (300°F) and grease or oil a roasting pan.
2. Combine the salt, pepper, mustard seeds and grind.
3. Slather the ground spices over the entire surface of the pork shoulder and place it in the prepared roasting pan.
4. Pour the water and 1 c. of the vinegar into the roasting pan.
5. Add the sliced onions over and around the pork.
6. Cover with foil and bake at 160°C (300°F) for 4 hours.
7. Remove foil and return to oven for another hour or two (until internal temperature reads at least 80°C/175°F).
8. If pork is still not done (or if you'd like to brown the outside a bit more), increase the temperature to 180°C (350°F) and cook for another 30-60 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat and add the chopped onions and garlic. Cook until onions have softened and started to brown (~10 minutes).
10. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, jam, mustard, bourbon, honey, sugar, and hotsauce.
11. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours.
12. Once pork is done, set aside to cool for ~1 hour.
13. Remove pork and onions from roasting pan. Shred the meat and discard the fat.
14. Add ~1/2 the sauce to the shredded pork and mix well.
15. Serve the pork on buns with extra sauce and coleslaw.

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¹ The original recipe called for 1/2 c. of butter! I cut this back to 2 Tbsp. and I'm perfectly happy with the results. Next time I might even be tempted to skip the butter altogether and just skim some fat off the pork drippings to use in my sauce. Either way, I don't think you need 8 Tbsp. of butter to make a good sauce for your pork! That just seems excessive. ^1
2 I only ended up putting 1/4 c. of mustard into our sauce. I wanted to taste it first and see if it seemed like it needed the whole 1/2 c. I think it was fine with only half the amount, but more would've been better. I just got a bit frazzled toward the end of the evening and forgot about adding the rest of the mustard. At least now I'll know for next time! ^Back
3 I didn't have any bourbon handy, so I just tossed in some rum. Not the same, I know, but I didn't want to go out to the LCBO just for that, so I made do with what I had. ^Back

Okay, so... this isn't going to be much of a recipe. I was preparing things in a bit of a hurry and I didn't really do a great job measuring things or keeping track of what I was doing. I based the seasoning proportions on an Italian Sausage recipe that I found online, but I wasn't following his instructions at all and I didn't have the same type or amount of meat. I basically just mixed up the seasoning blend and then cooked up some ground pork, adding the other "wet" components from the recipe while it cooked along with enough of the spices to make it tasty. The problem is that I'm not sure how much pork I started with and I didn't measure to see how much of the spice blend I ended up using. So this is one of those "keep adding until it's tasty" situations. Oh well... if nothing else, this should give a general idea of what works well for seasoning sausages.

Italian Sausage

Adapted from Billy Parisi

Ingredients

All ingredients are listed in parts by volume.

• 16 parts coarse sea salt¹
• 12 parts fennel seeds
• 12 parts coriander seeds
• 12 parts sugar
• 6 parts dried basil
• 6 parts dried oregano
• 6 parts black peppercorns
• 6 parts sweet paprika
• 2 parts red pepper flakes
• 1 part ground nutmeg
• 2-4 cloves of garlic per kilo of meat, minced²
• 2-3 Tbsp. fresh minced flat-leaf parsley per kilo of meat³
• 3-4 Tbsp. white wine per kilo of meat
• ground meat (preferably pork or a mix of pork and chicken)

Directions

1. Combine all the dry ingredients -- salt, fennel, coriander, sugar, basil, oregano, peppercorns, paprika, pepper flakes, and nutmeg and also garlic powder (if using) -- and grind in a spice grinder.
2. If you're making actual sausage links, you'll want to prepare your meat at this point: grind it if it's not already ground, get your sausage casings ready, etc.
3. Mix the wet ingredients into the meat: garlic (if using fresh), parsley, and wine.
4. Sprinkle in some of the spice mix, adding it bit-by-bit until the meat seems to be well-seasoned. (I go largely by smell for this.) If you're not sure on the seasoning, cook a bit of the meat up and taste it. Start when you think it's a bit underseasoned so that you can test as you go and don't overshoot.
5. Once the seasonings are good, you can do the actual sausage stuffing. I didn't do that, so I won't go into details here. Check the link if you'd like detailed instructions on how to make sausage links.
6. Cook and enjoy!

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¹ The original recipe called for 18 parts salt. I reduced it to 16 parts, but I think that even less would've been fine. I might try it with 14 parts next time and see how it goes. ^Back
2 I think I ended up using ~1 Tbsp. of garlic paste in place of the fresh garlic for my sausage. That is largely unhelpful though as I'm not sure how much meat I had. I think I was working with ~450g, but I didn't weigh it before I started. I think that garlic powder (the granulated kind, not the floury kind) would also be acceptable. In that case, I'd mix the garlic powder in with the rest of the spices and start with 6 parts garlic. ^Back
3 I discovered at the last minute that I was out of parsley, so I ended up using a lesser amount of cilantro instead. This worked fine, but I would've preferred parsley. ^Back

The plan had been to make some Korean-style marinated beef for dinner last night. Kind of like galbijjim, but with stewing beef rather than short ribs.

That was the plan. Unfortunately, I got started a bit late and didn't get the beef marinating in time. So we ended up having to do a quick pivot to another dinner plan. I knew we had a package of slightly freezer-burnt pork chops in the chest freezer downstairs, so I figured that this simple InstantPot recipe would be a good way to use them up. And it worked out great! The pork was delicious and so was the kale that went with it. And it harmonized well with the turnip (daikon) cakes that we decided to fry up to go with dinner too. So, despite being in a bit of a flap leading up to dinner, everything worked out really well in the end.

Lemongrass and Garlic Pork Chops

Slightly adapted from Healthy Instant Pot by Alexis Mersel

Ingredients

• 2 stalks lemongrass
• 3 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 6 cloves garlic¹, minced
• 2 large shallots², minced
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• ~1.4kg thick-cut bone-in pork chops
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 c. chicken or beef stock
• 300g frozen chopped kale³
• cooked rice, to serve

Directions

1. Remove any tough outer leaves from the lemongrass, press firmly with the flat of the knife, then slice very thin and set aside.
2. Combine the soy sauce, fish saue, sugar, garlic, shallots, and pepper and mix well.
3. Mix in the lemongrass.
4. Pour over the pork chops and turn to coat.
5. Cover and marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
6. Set InstantPot to "sauté medium" and add the oil.
7. Remove the pork chops from the marinade (reserving the marinade) and sear in the InstantPot, working in batches and cooking each pork chop for 2-3 minutes per side.
8. Remove the pork chops from the InstantPot and set aside.
9. Add the stock to the pot and scrape the bottom to losten any stuck on bits.
10. Pour in the reserved marinade and turn the InstantPot off.
11. Return the pork chops to the pot and seal the lid.
12. Pressure cook on high for 10 minutes followed by a 10-minute natural release.
13. Release any residual pressure and transfer the pork chops to a serving dish.
14. Pour all but ~1/4 c. of the sauce over the pork chops.
15. Set the InstantPot back to "sauté medium" and add the kale.
16. Cook until the kale is heated through and the flavours have had a chance to mingle (3-5 minutes).
17. Serve the pork chops over rice with the kale on the side.

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¹ We were running a bit low on garlic, so I just used a few Tbsp. of garlic paste instead. I think I put in ~2 1/2 Tbsp. of paste, but I wasn't being too particular abou the measurement. ^Back
2 I had half a red onion in the fridge already, so I just minced that very fine and used it rather than going to the trouble of getting shallots special for this dish. ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for 150g of baby spinach, but suggests that chopped kale or bok choy would make good substitutes. I decided to go with kale since that make my life easier. But 150g didn't look like very much at all. So I decided to just use the whole 300g bag. I think this produced a much more reasonable amount of greens for the quantity of pork. ^Back

Pork Do Pyaaz (Pork Tenderloin Strips with Onions and Bottle Masala)

This takes a while to cook but is very simple to put together, if you already have bottle masala handy. And the results are delicious! I've written the recipe as originally presented, but we had 900g of tenderloin and thus made a double batch.

The recipe calls for green bell pepper. We made it with red and yellow and had no complaints. I think it would work with either, but we generally prefer red bell peppers to green. The salt and oil are also reduced relative to the original recipe.

Pork Do Pyaaz

660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer (p. 219)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 medium red onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 large bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 450g pork tenderloin, cut into 5mm discs and then the discs cut into 5mm-wide strips
• 2 tsp bottle masala
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• ¼ C chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add onions and bell pepper, stir together, and cover.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are deeply browned and the peppers tender, 25-30 minutes; as the liquid cooks off you will need to stir more often.
4. Stir in the pork, bottle masala, and salt.
5. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until browned, ~10 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

This recipe was meant to be made with pork tenderloin. I didn't have any pork tenderloin, but I did have a cottage roll that I'd picked up on sale a while back. I figured that maybe if I left the salt out of this recipe and boiled the roll for a while first, I could get away with using it here.

My cottage roll was a little over 1.7kg and the recipe only wanted 900g of pork, so I ended up boiling it until it was cooked through and then cutting it in half and using half for this recipe and half for a boil-up type dinner the next night.

I'm really happy with how this came out. The apples were delicious. And TF really appreciated the generous quantity of caraway. Unfortunately the Kidlet wasn't a big fan of the apples. But we all liked the pork. And it went really well with some mashed potatoes.

Caraway Pork with Sauerkraut and Apples

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2016

Ingredients

• 2 pork tenderloins (~450g each)
• 1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. oil or bacon grease, divided
• 2-3 apples, halved, cored, and sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 450g sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill¹

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250°C (475°F).
2. Pat pork dry and sprinkle with caraway seeds, salt, and pepper.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add the pork and cook until browned on all sides (5-6 minutes). Transfer to a plate and set aside.
5. Add remaining oil, apples, and onion to pan and cook over medium heat for ~5 minutes.
6. Add sauerkraut and sugar.
7. Place pork on top of sauerkraut mixture.
8. Bake at 250°C (475°F) until pork reaches an internal temperature of 60°C/140°F (10-15 minutes).
9. Remove from oven, cover, and rest for 5 minutes.
10. Slice pork and sprinkle sauerkraut mixture with dill.

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¹ I didn't have any fresh dill so I subsitituted 1 tsp. of lightly bruised dill seeds. I added them in with the sauerkraut instead of waiting until the end since I felt like that would give better flavour. If using the fresh herb, I would've added it at the end like the recipe says. ^Back