Pasta with chorizo, pumpkin, feta and walnuts

Pasta with chorizo, pumpkin, feta and walnuts
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Sauce
  • 2 onions
  • 40 gr chorizo
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • +/-1 kg pumpkin
  • 600 gr tinned, chopped tomatoes
  • parsley
  • 250 gr spaghetti
Salad side dish
  • 200 gr feta cheese
  • 30 gr walnuts
  • 50 gr rocket
  • 200 gr black olives
Instructions
Preparations
  1. Dice onion, chorizo, and garlic. These can be mixed once cut.
  2. Clean and dice the pumpkin.
  3. Toast the walnuts.
  4. Dice the feta cheese.
Cooking
  1. Cook the onion, chorizo, and garlic until soft.
  2. Next, stir in the tinned chopped tomatoes, and parsley and bring the sauce to a simmer. Season to taste.
  3. Coat the pumpkin with some oil and season to taste. Transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper.
  4. Roast the pumpkin in a oven preheated to 200C for 10 min or until just cooked.
  5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling and lightly salted water until just cooked, drain and mix with the sauce.
  6. Serve the pasta with the grilled pumpkin. Serve on the side the feta cheese, rocket, black olives and toasted walnuts.
Stuff to know
This quantity will yield +/- 4 portions.
Omit the chorizo for a vegetarian version.
If the sauce seems too thick, add some extra tinned chopped tomatoes or stock.
If the sauce is too thin, mix some corn starch with cold water and add that the sauce, which will thicken when it comes back to the boil.

 

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Pasta with green asparagus and ham

Pasta with green asparagus and ham
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Sauce
  • 25 gr butter
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 25 gr flour
  • 500 gr cold milk
  • 1 tspn lemon juice
  • ½ tspn nutmeg
Pasta
  • 4 eggs
  • 250 gr pasta
  • 750 gr green asparagus
  • 4 slices of ham
  • 1 tbspn pine nuts
  • 8 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 tbspn Parmesan
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter in the pan. Dice the red onion and garlic and fry off in the butter until soft.
  2. Add the flour and stir to a thick paste. Cook the roux for a minute.
  3. Stir in the cold milk to make a white sauce that will thicken when the milk warms up.
  4. Season to taste with the lemon juice, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
  5. Allow to simmer for a couple of minutes while you cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water with some salt until almost cooked. Drain the pasta and stir into the sauce. Keep warm.
  6. Meanwhile, boil the eggs in plenty of boiling water for 8 minutes. Refresh briefly under cold running water and peel.
  7. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until coloured.
  8. Remove the wooden end from the green asparagus. Brush with some oil and grill until hot and half cooked.
  9. Roll up the ham and briefly in the grill pan to obtain some colour.
  10. Position the asparagus on the plate. Spoon the pasta and white sauce on top. Garnish with the cooked egg, toasted pine nuts, grilled ham and cherry tomatoes.
Stuff to know
Green asparagus don’t need to be peeled. Just remove the wooden end.
The white sauce is a classic béchamel sauce.
Substitute the ham with smoked salmon or a grilled salmon fillet.

 

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Simple bacon and cheese bake

Simple bacon and cheese bake
 
Author:
Makes: 8 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 300 gr bacon
  • 15 gr butter
  • 15 gr flour
  • 150 gr milk
  • ½ tspn mustard
  • 250 gr grated cheese
  • 500 gr puff pastry
  • 1 egg
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter and add the flour. Mix to combine and cook for a minute. Stir in the cold milk with the mustard and whisk to combine. Bring to a light boil and simmer until thick, seasoning to taste. Take off the heat and let cool to room temperature.
  2. Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a tray with baking paper.
  3. Bake the bacon in the oven for 15 min or until just cooked. Remove from the oven and drain.
  4. Roll out the puff pastry and cut into squares, about 12 cm.
  5. Spread some of the white sauce diagonally on each puff pastry square. Top with most of the cheese and the cooked bacon.
  6. Brush the corners on the side with the beaten egg and fold them over to form a wrap. Egg wash the outside of the wrap. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.
  7. Keep in the fridge until ready and bake at 190°C for 20 min or until the pastry is fully cooked and golden brown.
Stuff to know
Cooking the bacon will release its grease and avoids a soggy pastry.
The white sauce is optional, you can make these wraps without it.
It is possible to prepare this wraps half a day in advance and to store them in the fridge. Just make sure that the white sauce is at not warm anymore when spreading it on the wrap of the puff pastry will start to complain.
Replace the bacon by cooked ham
Add some stewed onions to the filling.
Add some parsley to the white sauce.

 

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Gammon and pineapple

Gammon and pineapple
 
Author:
Makes: 6 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Gammon
  • 1000 gr unsmoked gammon
  • 1 vegetable bouillon cube
  • 34 gr honey
  • 18 gr mustard
  • ½ tspn ground cloves
Mash
  • 1000 gr potato
  • 250 gr swede
  • 50 gr butter
Salsa
  • 340 gr (tinned) pineapple
  • 1 lime
  • 3 gr fresh coriander
  • ¼ red bell pepper
Vegetables
  • 600 gr vegetables
Sauce
  • 400 gr of the cooking liquid
  • 2 tbspn honey
  • 1 tspn mustard
  • 50 gr dried fruit (plums or raisins)
Instructions
Gammon
  1. Place the gammon in a large pot and completely cover with cold water. Bring the gammon to the boil, drain and refresh the water. Bring once again to the boil, add the vegetable bouillon cube and cook the gammon for 20 min per pound or until 65°C core temperature.
  2. Drain and reserve the required amount of the cooking liquid to make the sauce later.
Salsa
  1. If using tinned pineapple, drain in a colander. Dice the pineapple, zest the lime, chop the coriander and finely dice the bell pepper.
  2. Mix with the pineapple and set aside for later.
Mash
  1. Peel and dice the potatoes and swede. Cook in salted boiling water until done. Drain and allow to dry for a few minutes.
  2. Add the diced butter and some warm milk or cream and mash until smooth. Season to taste and keep warm until needed.
Finish
  1. When about ready to serve, score the fat on the gammon in a criss-cross pattern. Mix for the glaze the honey, mustard and ground cloves and brush it on the gammon. Place in a foil-lined roasting tin and bake at 200°C for 20 mins or until the glaze is golden and the gammon is warmed through. Brush the glaze on the gammon every few minutes during baking.
  2. Bring the reserved cooking liquid from the gammon to the boil. Mix some gravy powder with cold water and stir in the cooking liquid to make the sauce. Add honey and mustard and seasoning to taste. Add the dried fruit and allow to simmer until needed.
  3. Boil the vegetables of your choice in salted boiling water until done. Drain and season to taste.
  4. To plate, spoon the mash and the vegetables on the plate and pour the sauce next to them. Slice the gammon and place on top of the sauce. Finish with the pineapple salsa.
Stuff to know
Do not overcook the gammon or it will too tough.
Check the cooking liquid of the gammon before using, it can be quite salty.
Draining the gammon and starting in cold water twice will reduce the saltiness.
Use salt sparingly, since the gammon tends to be salty itself.
For a quicker version, cook a gammon steak rather than a whole gammon joint.

 

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Pork with stir fried rice

Pork with stir fried rice
 
Author:
Makes: 4 porties
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 300 gr rice
  • 350 gr pork loin
  • 2 onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 thumb fresh ginger
  • 2 tspn ground coriander
  • 1 tspn brown sugar
  • 1 onion
  • 2 carrots
  • ½ leek
  • ½ white cabage
  • 100 gr sweet soy sauce
  • 25 gr sweet chilli sauce
  • 100 gr bean sprouts
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 tbspn chopped peanuts
Instructions
  1. Cook the rice in salted boiling water until done, drain and set aside for later.
  2. Dice the pork. Stir fry until coloured.
  3. Chop the onion and garlic and ginger. Add to the pan and sweat off until soft.
  4. Add the ground coriander and cook for a minute.
  5. Dice the carrot and slice the leek and white cabbage. Add to the pan and cook until soft.
  6. Add the sweet soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce and stir to combine.
  7. Add the cooked rice and stir fry until warm again. Add the bean sprouts and cook for a minute. Taste the sauce and check the seasoning.
  8. Meanwhile, fry the eggs in a separate pan. Season to taste.
  9. Serve the pork with the stir fried rice, fried egg, prawn crackers and chopped peanuts.
Stuff to know
Ideally, the rice is cold when added to the pan and reheated by stir frying.
Spice up the sauce by adding a chopped chilli pepper.
Serve with this dish a peanut sauce (click here for the recipe).

 

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Pork loin steaks with rosemary and honey

Pork loin steaks with rosemary and honey
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 600 gr pork loin
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 red onion
  • 2 tbspn olive oil
  • 250 gr stock
  • 200 gr red wine
  • 1 tbspn honey
  • 1 tbspn rosemary
Instructions
  1. Dice the onion and garlic. Sweat off until soft.
  2. Add the stock, red wine and honey and reduce until ⅔ is left.
  3. Slice the pork into steaks and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Cook the meat on side until coloured all over and flip to cook the other side.
  5. Add the meat to the reduced sauce to finish cooking.
  6. Add the rosemary and taste for seasoning.
  7. Serve the pork and the sauce with roasted potatoes and ratatouille.
Stuff to know
Do not let the sauce catch when reducing.
Use the stock you prefer: pork, beef or vegetable.
Reduce the sauce until it coats the back of a spoon.
Replace the rosemary by sage.

 

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Pork Babi Pangang

Pork Babi Pangang
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Marinade
  • 500 gr pork loin, shoulder or neck
  • 60 gr sweet soy sauce
  • 70 gr tomato ketchup
  • 25 gr honey
  • 15 gr lemon juice
Sauce
  • 200 gr onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 400 gr carrots
  • 500 gr white cabbage
  • 20 gr fresh ginger
  • 1 tbspn ground coriander
  • 1 tbspn ground ginger
  • 30 gr brown sugar
  • 1 tspn Chinese five spice
  • 70 gr tomato puree
  • 250 gr bouillon
  • 100 gr green peas
Instructions
Marinade
  1. For the marinade, mix the sweet soy sauce, tomato ketchup, honey and lemon juice.
  2. Cut the meat into 1 cm thick strips and allow to marinade for a couple of hours or overnight.
  3. Remove the meat from the marinade but reserve it.
Sauce
  1. Dice the onion, cut the carrot and cabbage and cook them off until soft in some oil.
  2. Chop the garlic and ginger and add to the pan. Cook for a minute until softened.
  3. Add the ground coriander, ground ginger, brown sugar and Chinese five spice and cook for a minute until fragrant.
  4. Add the tomato puree and bouillon to the vegetables. Add the reserved marinade and heat through to turn it into a sauce.
  5. In a separate pan, brown the meat in some oil until almost cooked. Add to the pot with the vegetables and simmer together until cooked, about 10 min.
  6. Add the defrosted green peas and cook for a minute in the sauce.
  7. Taste the sauce and correct the seasoning if needed.
  8. Serve the sauce with the meat and some cooked rice.
Stuff to know
The precise proportions depend on personal taste.
If the sauce is too thin, mix some corn flour and cold water and stir it into the sauce, which will thicken when it comes back to the boil.
Make sure you use the sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) rather than the salty one.
Use some dry sherry or Chinese rice wine to make the sauce.
Babi pangang refers to a variety of recipes for Indonesian grilled pork recipes, 'babi' meaning pig or pork, and 'pangang' meaning grilled or roasted in the Malay and Indonesian languages.

 

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Pork Mexicanese

Pork Mexicanese
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Pork
  • 4 pork loin steaks
  • 1 tspn paprika powder
  • 70 gr tortilla crisps
  • 8 tbspn flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tbspn milk
Sauce
  • 2 onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 bell peppers
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 celery stick
  • ½ tspn chilli powder
  • 1 tspn ground cumin
  • 1 tspn oregano
  • 1 tspn ground coriander
  • 1 tspn brown sugar
  • 70 gr tomato puree
  • 400 gr tinned chopped tomatoes
  • 400 gr kidney beans
  • 90 gr sweet corn
Finish
  • 4 tbspn sour cream
  • 15 gr fresh coriander
  • 1 lime
Instructions
Pork
  1. Prepare the pork. Working with one at a time, place the pork loin steaks on a cutting board.
  2. With the flat side of a meat pounder of a round bottom pan, pound the pork between pieces of plastic wrap until about as thick as your pinkie finger. Season with salt, pepper and paprika powder.
  3. Crumble until really fine the tortilla crisps. Lightly beat the eggs with the milk in a medium bowl. Place some all-purpose flour and the tortilla crisps in 2 separate wide, shallow dishes.
  4. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Working with 1 pork steak at a time, dip into the flour first, turning to coat and shaking off excess. Dip into the egg and milk next and lift out, letting excess drip off.
  5. Dip next into the tortilla crumbs, pressing firmly to help them adhere. Transfer to a plate, and set aside for later.
Sauce
  1. Chop the onion and garlic. Dice the bell peppers, carrot and celery.
  2. Sweat the onion and garlic off until soft. Add the bell peppers, carrot and celery and cook until soft. Add the chilli powder, ground cumin, oregano, ground coriander and brown sugar and cook until they release their flavour. Season to taste.
  3. Add the tomato puree and the tinned chopped tomatoes. Allow the sauce to simmer until the vegetables are cooked.
  4. Rinse and drain the kidney beans and sweet corn. Stir them into the sauce to warm through. Chop the fresh coriander.
To finish
  1. Heat some butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering; a breadcrumb should sizzle instantly when dropped into the oil.
  2. Gently place 2 breaded pork steaks in the skillet (if your pan is large enough), and fry until undersides are golden brown.
  3. Flip over and fry until cooked through and golden brown on other side, (the pork should feel firm).
  4. Serve the pork mexicanese with a dollop of sour cream, the sauce, some fresh coriander and a slice of lime together with cooked rice or a wrap.
Stuff to know
This recipe is a take on the classic milanese, where chicken, veal or pork is coated in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese.
The butter and oil should be hot enough to really crisp up the coating of the pork but not too hot or they will burn before cooking through.
If cooking more pork steaks than your skillet can hold, keep the cooked ones warm in the oven when cooking the remaining steaks. Do not overcrowd the skillet.

 

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Pork tenderloin with honey and apple sauce

Pork tenderloin with honey and apple sauce
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 900 gr potatoes
  • 500 gr pork tenderloin
  • 10 slices parma ham
  • 100 ml white wine
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 apples
  • 2 tbspn thyme
  • 2 tbspn honey
  • 1 tspn mustard
  • 1 tbspn rosemary
Instructions
  1. Season the pork tenderloin with salt and pepper.
  2. Overlap two pieces of cling film over a large chopping board. Lay the slices of parmaham on the cling film, slightly overlapping. Sit the pork tenderloin on it and use the cling film’s edges to draw the parmaham around the tenderloin.
  3. Then roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of cling film to tighten it as you go. Store in the fridge until needed if preparing this in advance.
  4. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a tray with baking paper.
  5. Peel and dice the onion and garlic.
  6. Boil the potatoes in salted boiling water until half cooked, drain, and set aside for later.
  7. Heat some oil and butter in an pan. Unwrap the pork tenderloin and sear off in the hot pan until coloured all over but not cooked through.
  8. Transfer to the baking tray and finish cooking in the oven for 15 min or up to the desired internal temperature.
  9. In a different pan, heat some oil and butter and start cooking the parboiled potatoes. Season to taste with rosemary, salt and pepper.
  10. Sweat of the onion and garlic until soft in the pan in which the pork tenderloin was cooked.
  11. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and reduce by half.
  12. Peel and dice the apple and add to the sauce with the honey, mustard and thyme. Season to taste.
  13. When cooked, remove the pork tenderloin from the oven and allow to rest for 5 min in a warm spot.
  14. Slice the pork tenderloin and serve it with the pan roasted potatoes and honey and apple sauce and a green vegetable of your liking.
Stuff to know
This recipe will feed 4 people, and is therefore an alternative to a largre Sunday roast.
Serve this with a salad of chicory (click here for the recipe) or a chicory tarte tatin (click here for the recipe).
Finishing the cooking of the meat in the oven allows you to use the pan to create the sauce.
Parma ham is quite expensive. Use any ham of your liking.
Use preferably really tart apples like a bramley or a granny smith to bring out the apple flavour.

 

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Pulled pork wrap with red cabbage colelaw

Pulled pork wrap with red cabbage colelaw
 
Author:
Makes: 8 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Pulled pork
  • 1200 gr pork shoulder
  • 1 tbspn ground cumin
  • 1 tbspn ground coriander
  • 1 tbspn paprika powder
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 onion
  • 1 celery stick
  • 1 vegetable bouillon cube
Coleslaw
  • 75 gr red onion
  • 200 gr carrot
  • 200 gr red cabbage
  • 100 gr broccoli florets
  • 2 spring onions
  • 10 gr coriander
Sesame-ginger dressing
  • 90 gr sesame oil
  • 40 gr sunflower oil
  • 135 gr sweet chili sauce
  • 60 gr lime juice
  • 2 clove of garlic
  • 22 gr fresh ginger
  • 3 tbspn sesame seeds
Wrap filling
  • 300 gr onion
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 300 gr carrot
  • 100 gr celery
  • 150 gr bell pepper
  • 1 tbspn ground cumin
  • 1 tbspn ground coriander
  • 1 tbspn paprika powder
  • 80 gr tomato puree
  • 1 tbspn sweet chilli sauce
  • 90 gr sweet corn
  • 375 gr red kidney beans
To finish
  • 16 wraps
  • 300 gr tortilla crisps
Instructions
Pulled pork
  1. Preheat the oven to 130°C. Season the pork with cumin., coriander, paprika powder and salt and pepper. Sear off in a hot pan over high heat until coloured all over.
  2. Place the carrot, onion and celery stick at the bottom of an ovenproof dish and place the browned pork on top. Crumble in the vegetable bouillon cube and pour in enough water to just cover the pork.
  3. Cover the dish with tin foil and braise in the oven for 3 hours or until the pork falls apart and is super tender, topping up the liquid if needed so that the pork stays submerged.
  4. Once cooked, remove the pork from the dish and allow it to cool. Strain the braising liquid and reduce until you have about 10% left of the original volume. Pull the cooked pork apart using two forks. Set both the pork and the reduced braising liquid aside for later.
Coleslaw
  1. For the coleslaw, finely chop the red onion. Grate the carrot. Cut the red cabbage in fine matchsticks.
  2. Chop up the broccoli florets and fresh coriander. Cut the spring onion at an angle. Mix them together.
Sesame-ginger dressing
  1. For the sesame-ginger dressing, combine in a large bowl the sesame oil, sunflower oil, sweet chilli sauce, lime juice, garlic and fresh ginger.
  2. Blitz or puree until smooth. Stir in the sesame seeds. Mix the sesame-ginger dressing with the red cabbage coleslaw. Set aside for later.
Wrap filling
  1. For the wrap filling, chop the onion and garlic and sweat off until translucent. Finely dice the carrots, celery and bell pepper and stir fry until soft. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander and paprika powder and cook for a minute.
  2. Stir in the tomato puree and sweet chilli sauce and enough of the reduced braising liquid to make it a sauce with a good pork flavour. Do not make the sauce too thin or your wraps will leak. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked.
  3. Stir in the sweet corn and red kidney beans and heat them through in the sauce. Season to taste and keep warm until needed.
To finish
  1. To finish the dish, heat a pan and stir fry the pork in some oil until warm again and crispy. Season to taste.
  2. Spoon the warm sauce and cooked crispy pork meat in a wrap and roll up. Serve with the dressed red cabbage coleslaw and tortilla crisps.
Stuff to know
Although this recipe involves many steps, most of the work can be done a day ahead. Braise the pork, pull the meat, reduce the braising liquid, prepare the coleslaw and the sesame-gingerdressing the day before serving.
Reducing the braising liquid will concentrate the flavour but boils away excess liquid. If the final sauce with the vegetables is too thin, the wraps will leak.
If need be, thicken the sauce by mixing in some cornstarch mixed with cold water. The sauce will thicken when boiling again.

 

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Pork sweet and sour

Pork sweet and sour
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Marinade
  • 400 gr pork loin
  • 40 gr sweet soy sauce
  • 40 gr oil
  • 8 gr ginger powder
  • 5 gr ground coriander
Vegetables
  • 300 gr carrots
  • 150 gr white cabbage
  • 8 gr ginger powder
  • 4 gr ground coriander
  • 1 tspn paprika powder
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2 onions
  • 30 gr ginger root
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 200 gr tinned tomatoes
  • 100 gr pineapple bits
  • 125 gr green peas
Sauce:
  • 40 gr lemon juice
  • 150 gr tomato ketchup
  • 60 gr honey
  • 40 gr sweet chilli sauce
  • 120 gr reserved pineapple juice
  • cornflour
Instructions
Marinade
  1. Dice the pork loin and marinate for a couple of hours or overnight in the sweet soy sauce, oil, ginger powder and ground coriander, salt and pepper to taste.
Vegetables
  1. Dice carrot and white cabbage and stir fry until soft but not yet cooked through.
  2. Add the ginger powder, ground coriander and paprika powder and stir fry until they release their flavour.
  3. Dice the onion, garlic, ginger root and bell peppers and add them to the pot. Cook on a medium heat until soft.
Sauce
  1. Drain the tinned pineapple but keep the syrup.
  2. Mix the lemon juice, tomato ketchup, honey, sweet chilli sauce and pineapple juice.
Finish
  1. Stir fry the pork loin with its marinade until cooked. Check for seasoning and keep warm if needed.
  2. Add the green peas and the drained pineapple bits to the vegetables.
  3. Stir in the sauce and allow to simmer to finish cooking the vegetables. Check the seasoning. If there is not enough sauce to accommodate the vegetables, add some extra tinned tomatoes or water.
  4. If the sauce is too thin, mix some cornstarch with cold water, stir though the sauce and bring to the boil until the sauce has thickened.
  5. Check the seasoning again and serve with the cooked pork loin and boiled rice.
Stuff to know
Do not overcook the pineapple and peas. They just need to be warmed through.
The amount of cornstarch will influence the thickness of the sauce.
Replace pork by chicken.
Use a pulled pork shoulder rather than a pork loin.
Skip the meat for a vegetarian option.

 

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