2011 Cooking Club Week 47: Crispy Chilli Pork or Beef

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.