Japanese Rolled Pork With Plums Coriander Soy Sauce And Spring Onions Food

BRAISED PORK WITH PLUMS

Steps:

• Cut the pork into big pieces about the length of your thumb and twice as wide. Put into a bowl or food bag, and add the wine, soy sauces, half the ginger, half the garlic and half the chilli. Marinate for at least 1 hr or up to 24 hrs.
• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3, then heat the oil in a large casserole. Tip in half the spring onions, remaining ginger and garlic, the star anise, five-spice powder and cinnamon. Fry gently until fragrant and soft. Stir in the sugar, turn up the heat, then lift the pork from the marinade and turn in the oniony mix for about 3 mins until the meat is just sealed but not browned. Tip in the marinade, tomato purée and stock, give it a stir, cover, then braise in the oven for 2 hrs.
• After the first hr is up, add the plums to the pan. Take the lid off and carry on the cooking, uncovered. The meat should be completely tender, turning golden brown where it breaks the surface of the sauce. Spoon off any excess fat from the surface, then scoop the meat and plums carefully from the pan with a slotted spoon. Turn up the heat and boil the sauce for 5-10 mins until reduced and slightly syrupy. Return everything to the pan, gently warm through, then scatter the rest of the spring onions over the top to serve.

JAPANESE ROLLED PORK WITH PLUMS, CORIANDER, SOY SAUCE AND SPRING ONIONS

Steps:

• Wash the plums, then run a knife around them, twist them and remove the stones. Cut the halves into 1/2-inch (1 centimeter) dice. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the star anise, ginger, and garlic for 1 minute. Add the plums and sugar with a couple of tablespoons of water, place a lid on, and simmer slowly for about 20 minutes until chunky and pulpy. Allow to cool down in the refrigerator. Take your pork and trim off all the fat and sinews so that you are left with completely lean eye of meat. Cut into 1/4-inch (.5 centimeter) thick slices and 1 by 1 bash the slices between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, using something flat and heavy like the base of a heavy pan, a meat hammer or a cleaver. Try to retain the pork's shape. When each piece is around the thickness of 2 beer mats, carefully peel the meat away form the plastic wrap in 1 piece. Do this with all the meat and lay it out on a tray. Season the plum sauce, then stir in half the coriander. Smear 1 tablespoon of your sauce in the middle of each slice of pork. Spread out slightly so that the sauce covers about 3/4 of each slice and roll each one up like a Swiss roll. Put the rolls into a bamboo steamer (if you have one) or a normal steamer, or even use a colander covered in tin-foil. Place the steamer over simmering water and steam for 10 to 15 minutes until the meat is just cooked. Remove from the steamer and serve the pork rolls on a bed of finely sliced spring onion, sprinkled with the rest of the coriander and doused with lots of soy sauce.;

CHINESE BRAISED PORK WITH PLUMS

Steps:

• Bring a very large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the pork belly and boil for 15 mins until cooked. Cool to room temperature, then cut into 4cm chunks and make sure they're dry.
• Heat some of the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish and brown the pork in batches. Once browned, set aside. Put the onion, spring onion whites, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks in a blender and whizz to a paste.
• After browning the pork, wipe out the dish, add the paste with a splash of water and gently heat until softened. Stir in the five-spice powder, star anise, cinnamon and 1 tsp ground pepper. Fry for 1 min, then add the sugar, soy sauces, hoisin sauce, vinegar and ginger syrup. Return the pork, plus any juices, then crumble in the stock cube and add enough water to just cover. Stir in a third of the plums and bring to a gentle simmer while you heat oven to 160C/140C fan/ gas 3. Cover the dish and bake for 2 1⁄2 hrs.
• Lift the pork into an ovenproof dish, cover with foil and keep warm in a low oven. Put the sauce back on the hob and boil until reduced by about half. Add the remaining plums and cook for a few mins more, then return the pork. Finely slice the spring onion greens and scatter over with the coriander leaves. Serve with jasmine rice and stir-fried greens.

STIR-FRIED PORK IN PLUM AND SOY SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a wok and stir-fry pork, in batches, until browned, remove from wok and set to one side.
• Heat remaining oil in wok, add onion, garlic and ginger, stir-fry 1 Minute.
• Add red and yellow peppers stir-fry 1 minute, add soy sauce, return pork to pan, stir-fry until peppers start to soften.
• Add asparagus, peas, sprouts, plum and hoi sin sauces, stir-fry until remaining veg are just tender, you still want a nice crunch.
• Cooking time will be longer if not using a wok.
• To Serve: Either serve as is for low carb or serve over jasmine rice.