Certain dishes can’t help but inspire nostalgia. Black bean sauce was one of the gateway dishes into our childhood obsession with Chinese food. Tonight, we’ve teamed it up with a beautifully cut piece of Pork Loin from our butcher extraordinaire Nick ‘The Knife’. We’ve thrown in a little restaurant trick too, by adding cornflour to make your meat melt-in-the-mouth tender!
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the war in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
2
Pork Medallion
1
Cornflour
175
Basmati Rice
1
Garlic Clove
1
Ginger
1
Green Pepper
1
Carrot
2
Spring Onion
15
Cashew Nuts
(Contains Nuts May contain Sesame, Nuts, Peanut)
1
Black Bean Sauce
(Contains Soya)
350
Water
Cut the pork loin widthways into ½cm slices. Toss your pork in the cornflour with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper.
Boil the water (amount specified in the ingredient list) with a pinch of salt in a pot. Once your water comes to the boil turn the heat to the lowest setting. Add the rice and place a tight lid on the pot. Leave on the lowest heat for 10 mins, then remove from the heat for 10 mins. Tip: Don’t peek under the lid for 20 mins or the rice won’t be perfect!
Peel and very finely chop the garlic. Peel the skin from the ginger using the edge of a spoon and then finely chop or grate it. Remove the core from the green pepper and slice lengthways into ½cm slices. Peel and chop the carrot into ½cm sticks (thinner if your knife skills allow!). Finally, slice the spring onion widthways into really thin discs, then separate the white and green parts.
Put a large frying pan on medium-high heat and add the cashew nuts (without any oil). Cook your nuts until they have turned brown and then remove them from the pan. Tip: Watch your nuts like a Wimbledon line judge, as the moment your back is turned they’ll burn!
Once your nuts are removed add a splash of oil to the pan and turn the heat to high. Once it’s really hot, carefully lay your pork in the pan for 3-4 mins, turning once after 2 mins. Tip: Cook your pork in two batches if you’re pan is too small as overcrowding the pan will stew your pork rather than brown it. Once your pork is cooked through, remove it from the pan. Tip: The pork is cooked when it is no longer pink in the middle.
Add another splash of oil to the same pan together with your pepper and carrot. Cook for 4 mins before adding your garlic, ginger and the whites of your spring onion. Cook for 30 seconds and then put your pork back in the pan.
Mix the black bean sauce together with 1 tbsp of water per person, then add this to the pan. Heat through then toss everything together for 1 minute, before serving it with your rice, a sprinkle of nuts and the greens of your spring onion.