Japanese Pork

Serves 2-4

This is ready in 20 minutes and packs a punch with its sauce. I’ve said this serves 2-4, because it is a very rich sauce so I’ve decided that we’ll get four portions out of it (I’m sure the Food Husband would much rather it was just two!) so by all means decide for yourself. But essentially this recipe is just for a meat sauce; the idea is to serve this with white basmati rice or a sushi rice and some green vegetables such as pak choi.

The combination of ingredients in the sauce leaves a wonderfully savoury flavour. With the soy and fish sauce the result is salty though, thus only needing to be seasoned with pepper at the end.

• Ingredients:
• 1 heaped tsp (coconut) oil (or use 1 tbsp of a liquid oil such as rapeseed)
• 1 white onion, finely diced
• 2 inches of ginger, peeled and finely diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely diced
• 1 large red chilli, finely diced
• 500g lean pork mince
• 3 tbsp shao xing cooking wine
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp white miso paste
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 200ml vegetable stock
• 2 heaped tsp cornflour, slackened in a little cold water
• Ground white pepper

Step 1: Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for two-three minutes.

Step 2: Add the ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for a further two minutes, stirring frequently.

Step 3: Add the pork mince and increase the heat slightly. Cook until the mince is browned and the pan is dry (about 10-12 minutes).

Step 4: Mix the wine, soy sauce, fish sauce, miso, sesame and sugar together and then stir into the pork. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the vegetable stock. Add the slackened cornflour and stir until the sauce is thickened. Season to taste with some ground white pepper.

I served this with sushi rice and sprinkled the top with sliced spring onion and red chilli, along with some slices of fried garlic. On the side I stir-fried some pak choi with garlic and a squeeze of lime.