Quick, tasty and easy weeknight night dinners are the best and this is ready in 15 minutes. It’s also pretty healthy and is packed with vegetables (especially if you’re trying to “eat the rainbow” which is essential for good nutrition).
Pork sometimes gets a bad reputation, but lean pork mince is full of protein and has a good amount of iron.
Serves 4
500 Grams Lean pork mince
1 Red pepper (finely sliced)
1 yellow pepper (finely sliced)
1 Red onion (finely sliced)
Half a small white cabbage (finely sliced)
Handful of sugar snap peas or mange tout
2-3 Cloves of garlic (finely sliced)
4-5 Tbsp Hoi Sin Sauce
Method
Heat a large wok or high sided frying pan over a high heat
Add the pork mince to the pan (there should be enough fat in the meant to stop it sticking even though it’s lean, but you can add a tablespoon of oil if you think you need to). Stir the meat quick to break it up until it’s mainly brown
Add all the veggies to the pan and stir often for 2-3 minutes
Stir in the garlic, and Hoi Sin sauce and half a cup of boiling water. Stir well and let the sauce thicken for another minute until everything is well coated
Pork belly is relatively inexpensive and packed with flavour. It also carries other flavours really well, so feel free to open the spice cupboard and go nuts.
A disk of fried apple adds some sweetness to cut the richness of the pork. I used coleslaw and salad leaves to add some freshness. Top it off with some spicy mayo for a little heat and the whole thing is an explosion of yumminess.
Makes enough for 3 burgers (you can up the quantities of you’re cooking for more people).
Ingredients
500 Grams Pork belly
1 Tsp Ground ginger
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1 Tsp Salt
1 Apple
25 Grams Butter
3 Tbsp Coleslaw
Salad leaves
3 Burger baps
2-3 Tbsp Mayonnaise
Siraccha to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 140 degrees (Celsius)
Pat the pork belly dry with paper towels, and rub with the spices and salt. Place in an ovenproof dish and bake for 30 minutes
Cut the apple into 1cm thick disks. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium high heat. Fry the apple disks until they start to brown on each side. Remove from the pan and set to one side.
Remove the pork belly and fry on a high heat in the same pan you cooked the apple in, until it starts to crisp up. Cook on each side
Toast the burger baps. To make the spice mayo, simply mix a couple of tablespoons and as much siraccha as you like and mix well. Spread the mayo on the baps
Add the coleslaw and salad leaves to one half of the bap, and top with the pork belly and apple. Top with the other half of the bap and serve immediately
I’m seriously missing being able to travel. With this in mind I decided to recreate one of my favourite dishes. I first ate this in Hong Kong. I first ate this in a hole in the wall cafe. It was a revelation and probably the best thing I ate the whole time was there.
Food in Hong Kong is amazing but this just hit the spot. If chicken soup is the ultimate Jewish comfort food, this is probably Hong Kong’s version.
Wet two sides of the wonton wrapper to the wrappers stick
You can find wonton wrappers in the freezer section of most Asian supermarkets, or larger supermarkets. This may seem like a lot of wontons, but I also freeze half so I can pull them out of the freezer without any fuss.
First fold the wonton into a triangle
These are also great to make with kids, (a little bit of child labour never does any harm). But I also like to stick the music on and switch off, making these can be quite therapeutic. For the soup I usually use shop bought good quality chicken stock. So if you have some wontons in the freezer and some ready made chicken stock this can be a really quick meal.
Dab the the longest edges of the triangle with water and fold into the centre
Ingredients
For the dumplings
500 Grams Pork Mince
4-5cm Piece of ginger (finely grated)
2 Cloves of garlic (minced)
2 Scallions/spring onions (finely chopped)
1tsp Cornflour
1tsp Sesame oil
1tsp Soy sauce
1 Red chilli (finely chopped)
1 Pack of wonton wrappers
For the broth
1 Tbsp Sesame oil
1 Litre Chicken stock
1 Tbsp Rice wine vinegar (I didn’t have this and used cider vinegar and it was fine)
2 Scallions/spring onions (ends removed and cut in half)
3-4 cm Piece of ginger (cut into 3-4 pieces)
1 Red chilli (cut on half, and seeds removed)
2 Cloves of garlic (cut in half)
Garnish with finely chopped scallions and coriander
Stock infused with garlic, chilli, ginger and scallions
Method
Put all the ingredients for the filling of the wonton filling in a bowl, and get your hands in and mix well until all ingredients are combined. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes
Open your pack of wonton wrappers and like filo pastry, you’ll need to cover it with a damp cloth to prevent it drying out. Keep a small bowl of water beside you, as you’ll need to wet the edges of the wonton so they stick
Take a square and put a small teaspoon of the filling in the centre. Wet the edges of two sides of the wonton and fold over to make a triangle. Make sure to press the edges together well (or else water will get in when you cook them). Dab the two long edges of triangle with water and fold the edge together and press (it should look like a tortellini). Place on a tray and continue doing this until you have either run out of filling or wrappers
Add 7-8 wontons at a time to a pot simmering water, and cook for 5 minutes or until the wontons float to the top. Drain and set aside, I usually freeze half the batch. If you’re going to freeze these, let them cool first and spread them out on a tray lined with cling film that you have rubbed lightly with oil to prevent them sticking. When they are frozen, split into batches and transfer into freezer bags
For the broth, add all the ingredients to a pot and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the ginger, garlic, and scallions from the both and discard
Add the wontons to the broth and sprinkle with finely sliced scallion and coriander
Everyone loves Mexican food, and while I make no claims that someone from Mexico would say this is just like their Mum would make, I think it tastes amazing. If you like pulled pork but never thought of trying it at home, you should give this a go. It really is simplicity itself, all you need is time, so perfect for the weekend when you kick back or get on with other things while the oven does all the work for you.
When you go a little crazy on taco Tuesday
I love this in tacos but you can add it to burritos or sandwiches. While this does take some time, it’s a simple recipe and is ideal to feed a group of people cheaply. I used pork shoulder which is inexpensive and really benefits from being marinated and cooked long and slow.
Delicious in wraps too.
Ingredients
1 Kg Pork shoulder
100 ml Orange juice (I used the juice of 2 oranges)
1 Tbsp Tomato puree
1 Tsp Oregano
1 Tsp Chilli powder
2 Tsp Smoked paprika
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1 Tsp Minced Garlic
Method
Cut your pork into 4 chunks
In a sealable freezer bag add all the other ingredients and squish together to make sure they are well mixed
Add the pork to the bag and seal, rub the bag to make sure the marinade covers the pork and then put in the fridge. If you can marinade this for 24 hours this is ideal. If you don’t have that sort of time try to marinade for least an hour
Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees (Celsius). Put your pork and the marinade in an oven proof dish with a lid and place in the oven for 3.5 hours.
Remove from the oven and shred the meat with two forks and mix in with the cooking juices for super tasty pulled pork
I have to give a shout out to my friend Nuala for turning me into this, and I love it.
If you haven’t used Sichuan pepper before you can by it ready ground in most big supermarkets. You can also buy packets of the whole peppercorns, and are reddish black in colour. While there is some heat, they are also really aromatic and work nicely in lots of other recipes.
This makes a great mid week dinner and is ideal for anyone following a low carb diet. If you’re not then enjoy this with rice or noodles. I used frozen greens to save time.
Ingredients
250 Grams Minced pork
500 Grams Green beans blanched on boiling water
Thumb sized piece of ginger (grated)
2 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
2 Scallions/spring onions (finely chopped)
1 Red chilli pepper (finely chopped)
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp Sesame oil
1 Tsp Ground Sichuan pepper
Method
Blanch the green beans in boiling water and drain
Fry the minced pork in a large frying pan or wok until no longer pink
Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for a further 5 minutes. If the mix starts to catch in the pan you can add a little water to stop this
I know this recipe might divide opinion and I’ll admit sauerkraut isn’t something I normally buy. I ended up with a monster sized pack of it from my vegetable box delivery as a substitution.
I asked round family and friends if there was anyone who was a sauerkraut lover, and couldn’t find a taker. One of them come back to me to explain that I should try to do something with it, as sauerkraut along with other fermented foods like kimchi are amazingly good for your gut health and we should all be eating more of these.
The only recipe I could think of was one I tasted about a million years when I lived in Germany. Kathy, the love lady I worked for made this dish for me once. It might sound a bit strange, and I know sauerkraut and pineapple aren’t two ingredients you would naturally think of together, but give it a chance. When they’re teamed up with pork chops, it works kind of like sweet and sour pork. The sauerkraut also helps make the pork really tender. This makes a great uncomplicated mid week dinner.
Ready for the oven
Ingredients
4 Pork chops
500 Grams Sauerkraut (drained)
350 Grams Can of pineapple rings
Method
Place pork chops in an oven proof baking dish
Cover with the drained sauerkraut, and top with the pineapple rings
Cover with foil and bake in an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes
I love pork belly. If I go to a restaurant (remember those). I’m really predictable, if pork belly is on the menu that’s what I’m ordering.
If you haven’t tried it before, it’s pretty rich and can be fatty, but it’s also really tasty. I enjoy it, cooked long and slow, and then crisped up in the pan.
Pork belly lends itself particularly to Asian flavours. I like to marinade the pork, usually over night but at least for an hour.
This is really versatile, and freezes well. It’s great served with salad (if you’re following a keto or low carb diet), or sliced in sandwiches with coleslaw. Its also really good sliced and served with noodles. You can crisp it up on a barbecue instead of the pan for a delicious smokey flavour.
Marinade the pork for at least 1 hour
Ingredients
500 Grams Pork belly strips
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp Sesame oil
2 Tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 Tsp White wine vinegar (or what ever vinegar you have, just not something really strong like malt vinegar)
1 Tbsp Sesame seeds (optional)
Method
Cut the pork belly into 2-3cm thick strips
Add the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and five spice powder, to an oven proof dish and mix.
Coat the pork strips with the marinade. Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight (or for an hour at least)
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees, put the covered dish in to cook for 90 minutes,
Remove from the oven. Heat a frying, and add the pork to pan.
Crisp for a few minutes on each side, and then sprinkle with sesame seeds
Seaneen's Sunnyside Kitchen 