Madhouse recipe : Hairy Bikers Vietnamese Pork

When it comes to cooking, I have two missions - trying out new flavours in exotic dishes from around the world and using up things that have been hanging around in the spice rack, fridge, freezer and cupboards for too long. When I spotted a recipe online for Hairy Bikers Vietnamese Pork, it ticked both boxes. I bookmarked it, added it to my menu plan, defrosted the pork then started cooking and noticed that it needed to simmer for a couple of hours. Oops, I had hungry kids hanging around in the kitchen already ! I adapted the recipe to make a super-speedy stir-fry and it was still delicious, getting a thumbs-up from the whole family. Here's my quick version but make sure you click through to see the original too.

Hairy Bikers Vietnamese Pork

ingredients :

2tbsp coconut oil

5 pork chops, meat cut into strips (because it was what was in the freezer - boneless pork would be better !)

3 onions

2 cloves garlic

2tsp ground lemongrass 

2tsp Chinese Five Spice

2tbsp fish sauce

4tbsp light brown sugar

Melt 1tbsp coconut oil (or use vegetable/olive oil if you prefer) and fry the pork for about 5 minutes until cooked through. Reserve.

Melt the remaining 1tbsp coconut oil (in another pan or reuse the same pan) and fry the onions and garlic until soft.

Add the sugar, spices and fish sauce and cook, stirring, until it starts to bubble and caramelise.

  

Return the pork to the pan and heat through, tossing the meat so it is completely covered in sauce and onions. Serve over rice or noodles.

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky as it used up some ground lemongrass and Chinese Five Spice that was cluttering up the spice rack.