2011 Cooking Club Week 47: Crispy Chilli Pork or Beef

vibe666

apologies in advance as this is a total clusterflock of a recipe.

i agreed to swap weeks with Muirgheal and then forgot about it due to my wife deciding we needed to move house and picking this week to do it (we only started *casually* looking 2 weeks ago:eek:) and tomorrow and friday being the big moving days, with half the house still to go into boxes, us moving out in the next 2 days and the new tenants moving in on saturday with us needing to buy furniture etc. to replace the stuff we're taking with us, so not a great start.

anyway, enough with the excuses and on with the recipe.

this recipe came about because i always liked the crispy chilli beef you get in chines restaurants, but on a health kick, we decided to swear off takeaways for a while so this is my take on a home cooked version, with pork instead because, well who doesn't love a bit of piggy.

Ingredients:

for the meat:
3-4 pork chops or steak
2 tablespoons cornflour
either 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika and half teaspoon of ground pepper
or (if you can get it) 1 tablespoon of red pork seasoning (from asian supermarkets)
about 3-4 cups of oil, preferably peanut/groundnut but veg oil or whatever will do almost as well.

for the sauce:
approx. 1 cup, more or less but equal amounts of red wine vinegar and white sugar
1-3 of the red and/or green chilli's you get in packs in most supermarkets.
a thumb sized piece of ginger
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 shallots
2 teaspoons cornflour dissolved in cold water to thicken
if you managed to get the red pork seasoning then a dessert spoon full in the sauce does wonders too.

additionally, some rice or noodles cooked to your liking as an accompaniment.

Utensils:
a meat mallet and sturdy chopping board for bashing out the pork
a couple of strong food bags to put the meat in whilst you bash the crap out of it.
a wok for semi-deep frying the pork
a saucepan for cooking the sauce
a knife for chopping, a metal slotted spoon on strainer to get the pork out of the oil and a spatula for stirring etc.

Time: approx. 30-45 minutes.

Serves: 3-4 people as a main.

Method:

the sauce:
you'll need to get the sauce on first as it takes some time to cook out properly.

apologies, but i'm a fecker for not measuring things so all measurements are approximate, use your own best judgement.

add the sugar and red wine vinegar to the pan and put on the hob on high to dissolve the sugar.

finely chop the chilli(s) (depending on your own personal hotness preference), garlic and shallots and grate the ginger and throw all 3 into the pan with the sugar & vinegar. add the dessert spoon full of red pork seasoning too if you were able to get it.



leave that bubbling away on a medium heat and make a start on the chops/steak.

trim the fat if you're really not a fan of it, but it'll be all nice and crispy by the time it's all cooked if you leave it on and is tasty, so why not?

place one chop/steak at a time inside a medium sized plastic food bag and have at it with the meat mallet until it's as thin as you can get it without it falling to pieces. i'm trying to think of a universal measurement that is about right, and the best i can come up with is about as thick as two 20c coins on top of each other.



once you've done them all, you'll want to slice each chop/steak through the middle and then cut them into strips about as wide as a mcdonalds drinking straw (yes, i know i'm useless with measurements, sorry!:o)

it's probably time to prepare your accompaniment, so cook off your rice or noodles and leave to one side whilst you finish off everything else.

combine the pork/beef strips with the cornflour and your remaining seasoning ingredients and toss around until fully coated, adding a little more cornflour if needed.



set aside for a few minutes and get your wok on the heat and put in the oil.

keep a close eye on it so it doesn't overheat.

now is about the right time to put HALF of the cornflour mixed with a splash of water into the sauce to thicken it up. stir it well and watch it for a minute to see if it starts to thicken (it should be almost immediately) and if required add a little more if it doesn't thicken to your liking and leave to simmer on a low heat.



when the oil looks hot enough, drop a small piece of the meat in to make sure it bubbles up.

so cook off a small handful at a time of the meat and once it starts to brown off (literally only 2-3 minutes per batch in good hot oil) scoop it out with a metal slotted spoon and transfer onto plenty of kitchen towels to get rid of any excess oil.

once it's all cooked and drained of any excess oil, drop it into the sauce, stir it up and serve with your rice or noodles.



okay, so i have no doubt i've missed stuff off, or been unclear about some components or methods, so please bare (bear?) with me and if you make suggestions or ask questions i'll fix it as we go along if that's okay.

again, apologies for the slapdashedness of it all but hopefully it's better than us missing a week off the cooking club. i'll try and sort some pics to add to it as well. i know i have some somewhere.

EDIT: added some nice clickable thumbnails.

FortuneChip

A Crispy Chilli Pork recipe that doesn't require Deep Frying?
I'd say "slapdashedness" is fine with me!

Look forward to seeing pics though, so I'll know if I ruined mine or not

vibe666

it's still semi-deep fried, just using the wok instead of a proper deep fryer, but it's a lot quicker and easier than going through the whole deep fryer mullarkey (even though i do have one) and works just as well imho.

i've actually cooked fried chicken the same way as well, just using slightly more oil. i'm moving house tomorrow (and friday, jebus ) though and the new place has a gas hob, so i don't know if i'd be brave enough to use hot oil and an open flame inside the house (although deep frying a turkey outside on a camping stove is an entirely different kettle of fish ).

Mellor

FortuneChip wrote: »

A Crispy Chilli Pork recipe that doesn't require Deep Frying?

It's still deep fried, just in a wok for speed (smaller batch of oil heats).
Using a deep fryer would be no different imo. I know some people are very cautious, even nervous, when it coems to frying over a hob.


And vibe, love the measurements. Two 20p coins, a mcdonalds straw. Obscure, but the get the point accross

vibe666

Mellor wrote: »

And vibe, love the measurements. Two 20p coins, a mcdonalds straw. Obscure, but the get the point accross

it's jus tthat i never measure anything, it's all done by eye and i pretty much make it up as i go along, so even when i'm cooking the same thing multiple times, there's always variations to the recipe each time.

it doesn't always work out better, but i try and learn from my mistakes and it usually works out in the end.

just adding some pictures now, although it's for beef, not pork but it's all the same. i'll just edit the recipe a little to give you the option as both are just as tasty.

The Black Oil

Good luck with the house move, want one of us to come around and cook for ya? :pac:

Thanks for posting the pics.

vibe666

thanks for the offer, but i'd say the only thing we'll be good for by the time it's done is burying in the back garden, so a nice home cooked meal would be wasted on us!

we've got my mum staying with us to help look after the baby during the move and she'll be on tea/coffee & bacon sammich duty too, so we'll probably survive.

we actually only started *casually* looking for somewhere to rent about 2 weeks ago, but we found the right house in the perfect spot within a couple of days and had the deposit down and everything on the first viewing to make sure we didn't lose out.

we're renting out our own house in navan and renting a house closer to work (in clonsilla) for us both so we can have more time with our 3 month old baby.

all in all, we will more or less break even if you include the rental income, reduced commuting costs, reduced childcare costs (navan seems to be dublin prices as far as that goes anyway) and time saved, against the extra cost of renting closer to the city, so i think we're onto a winner and the little one is our main priority now, so more time spent with him is priceless.

it's been a bit of a mental couple of weeks, but it will be worth it in the end. my wife will be cutting 2 hours a day off her commute into the city centre and even though my commute to the office will only be going from 25 minutes to 5 minutes, it means i'll be within cycling distance, so i can get on my bike and start to get fit again so i don't end up banjaxxed after 5 minutes when our little one is old enough to start kicking a football around.

FortuneChip

Mellor wrote: »

It's still deep fried, just in a wok for speed (smaller batch of oil heats).
Using a deep fryer would be no different imo. I know some people are very cautious, even nervous, when it coems to frying over a hob.

Ah, I'm under no illusion that I'm not deep frying, I just feel more comfortable using a wok if that's what the original recipe suggested

vibe666

you can do it either way tbh, it's still going to end up submerged in hot oil either way.

unkel

Anyone know where to buy the red pork seasoning mix? Can't say I remember seeing it in any Asian shop, but then again, I was never looking for it.

& good luck with the move, vibe666

Dinkie

unkel wrote: »

Anyone know where to buy the red pork seasoning mix? Can't say I remember seeing it in any Asian shop, but then again, I was never looking for it.

& good luck with the move, vibe666

Coincidently I bought some of this in the jervis st asian shop a couple months ago.

vibe666

Dinkie wrote: »

Coincidently I bought some of this in the jervis st asian shop a couple months ago.

ditto, that's where i've bought mine in the past.

I've moved to clonsilla now though, so i might try the asian shop in mulhuddart or just hop on the train into town and then get the luas from the docklands as it stops right outside the shop, so minimal bag carrying required.

Little Alex

So...



Really liked it! Thanks for the recipe.

I got the seasoning mix in Oriental Emporium in Rathmines. It comes in a sachet that contains 2x50g sachets for €1.30.

vibe666

Little Alex wrote: »

So...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/picture.php?albumid=1732&pictureid=11392

Really liked it! Thanks for the recipe.

I got the seasoning mix in Oriental Emporium in Rathmines. It comes in a sachet that contains 2x50g sachets for €1.30.

excellent, glad you liked it.

that's a very classy looking pic too, boards.ie might have to get your photography skills onboard if/when the recipe book ever comes out.

i should probably mention that the red pork seasoning is an optional ingredient and it's almost as nice without, but i do think it adds a bit of depth, so if you can get it it's well worth adding, but don't decide not to make it just because you don't have it.

Little Alex

vibe666 wrote: »

excellent, glad you liked it.

that's a very classy looking pic too, boards.ie might have to get your photography skills onboard if/when the recipe book ever comes out.

i should probably mention that the red pork seasoning is an optional ingredient and it's almost as nice without, but i do think it adds a bit of depth, so if you can get it it's well worth adding, but don't decide not to make it just because you don't have it.

Thanks, man. The photo is too "matter of fact" looking, but I'd gladly give a dig out if this book were to go ahead!

NewFrockTuesday

ohh - fab! I was looking for a recipe opf this a while ago!

vibe666

worth mentioning again that the red pork seasoning isn't absolutely essential, but it does definitely give it a better flavour. i'd say a bit of 5 spice or something like that would probably do the job if you were stuck.

Roald Dahl

This was our dinner tonight.

It was lovely.

We served it with noodles and beansprouts with some soy sauce and sesame oil for seasoning. There is a lot of sugar called for, so we made a slightly smaller ratio of the sauce.



We found Lobo brand red seasning mix in Asia Market for a euro and a bit. The sauce stained both the pot it was cooked in and the plates it was served on. :pac: I'm sure it'll fade out after a couple more washes.