Light meal for 3 people in 40 minutes
Often I buy something in bulk so I can experiment with it
and get the recipe right. I did that will this one. I have been dying to do
something with five spice and my male friends say I don’t have enough meat-based
recipes on the blog. This pork was supposed to rectify that, but after getting
things wrong a few times, I have ended up with what is generally not thought of
as a manly meal: a salad, albeit one with meat.
Five spice is just as it says on the tin: a powder mix of
five spices, although the mix of spices can vary. The one I used included star
anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel seeds.
In looking at five spice recipes, I learnt the mix is based
on the yin and yang principle, and is supposed to produce balance in the
flavour of the food by encompassing the five main flavours: sweet, sour,
bitter, pungent and salty. Although there are two things wrong here:
1 – there is nothing salty in five spice
2 – pungency is not one of the five main flavours, but umami
(or savoury) is
At the Spice Shop off Portobello Road you can buy a handy
mixed bag of the whole five spices so you can grind them yourselves for a
fresher mix.
For this recipe, you will need:
1. Pork
- 1 pork loin of about 300g
- 4 tablespoons five spice powder
- Salt and pepper to season
- 1 Persimmon cut into sections
2. Dressing
- 3 limes
- 6 small squeezes agave syrup (or as sweet as you want)
- 3 tablespoon roughly chopped coriander
- As much finely chopped chilli as you want
- 9 peanuts, skin removed and crushed
3. Salad
- 3 cups chopped baby leaf lettuce
Cover a cutting board with a layer of the five spice and
salt and pepper. Roll the loin in the spice, like so:
Sear the pork on all sides in medium high heat, browning it
on four sides.
Put it on a roasting tray rack topped with foil with the persimmon
sections. Put the tray in a 250 C oven for 15 minutes, making sure the centre
of the loin is no longer pink.
While it is cooking make the dressing by combining all
dressing ingredients, mixing well.
Take out the loin, let it sit for five minutes and then cut
into 1 cm-thick-ish slices.
Combine the dressing and the salad and plate. Place the
slices of pork on top and serve.
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