Pork and preserved vegetable stir-fry

The inspiration for this dish came from Garry’s love of the savoury, crunchy preserved vegetable topping that’s sprinkled on top of noodle soup. He’s essentially converted that topping into the star turn of a main course dish. These preserved vegetables are not the easiest ingredient to find, granted, but that’s a perfect excuse for a trip to Chinatown (or for an online shop). I used the Fish Well brand’s preserved mustard greens; feel free to experiment with other preserved vegetables. You can buy sprouted mung beans from healthfood shops and some supermarkets, but they’re also very easy to sprout at home: soak about 100g mung beans in water overnight, drain, then leave for two days in a bowl covered with a clean tea towel. Rinse them once or twice a day, adding a little water, and they’ll sprout before too long. Make more than you need for this, because they’re lovely sprinkled over all kinds of salads. Serves four with some sticky rice.

20g cornflour
2 tsp premium dark soy sauce
40ml light soy sauce (Kikkoman, ideally)
500g pork loin fillet, cut into 3-4mm-thick slices
320g Chinese preserved mustard greens or other preserved vegetables (see introduction)
75ml sunflower oil
2 red chillies, deseeded, cut in half lengthways and then into 2cm pieces
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
6 spring onions, cut into 2cm pieces
200g sprouting mung beans

In a medium bowl, combine the cornflour, dark soy sauce and two teaspoons of the light soy sauce, to make a thin paste. Toss the pork in the paste, making sure it’s covered all over, then leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes. (After marinating, separate the pork slices, because they may have clumped together.)

Wash the preserved vegetables in cold water, drain and set aside.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a wok or large frying pan on a high flame. Once the oil is very hot, add the pork, spreading out the pieces so they don’t overlap, and leave to fry for 30 seconds. Turn over the pork, again making sure the slices don’t overlap, and fry for another 30 seconds, until golden-brown. Transfer the pork to a plate, wipe clean the pan and return to a high heat.

Heat another three tablespoons of oil in the pan and, once very hot, stir-fry the chilli and garlic for 30 seconds. Add the spring onions, stir-fry for a minute, then add the preserved vegetables and stir-fry for another two minutes. Return the pork to the pan, add the final two tablespoons of light soy sauce, and stir-fry for three minutes. Take off the heat, stir in the sprouting beans and serve at once.

Nigel Slater’s vegetable rice recipe

The recipe

Rinse 200g of brown basmati rice in warm water and drain. Put the rice into a small, deep saucepan, pour in enough water to cover by a couple of centimetres, then add 8 whole black peppercorns, 2 bay leaves and a couple of cloves. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat so the water simmers and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Leave to cook for about 10 minutes, till the water has evaporated and small holes have appeared on the surface of the rice. Set aside, covered with the lid, for 5 minutes.

Slice 2 large leeks into pieces about the size of a wine cork, then wash them thoroughly under cold water. Melt 40g of butter over a moderate heat, add the leeks and 4 tbsp of water and cook over a lowish heat for 10 minutes, taking care they soften but do not colour.

Peel and very thinly slice a large clove of smoked garlic. Wash and finely shred a large handful of kale. In a frying pan, sizzle the kale in a little butter, add the sliced garlic and cook for a couple of minutes until bright and tender.

Boil 2 eggs till they are as you like them, then carefully remove their shells. Check the rice, then run a fork through it to separate the grains and stir in 1 tsp of garam masala. Toss together the rice, kale, garlic, leeks and their butter, then divide between 2 plates. Top with the peeled eggs. Serves 2.
The trick

Rinsing the rice 2 or 3 times or until the water runs clear will prevent the grains from sticking together. To keep the leeks from browning, add a disc of greaseproof paper on top of the leeks, butter and water, then cover with a lid, so they steam rather than fry.
The twist

You could comfortably use this recipe for leftovers, such as roast meat, torn into large shreds, or pieces of cooked salmon or smoked mackerel. You could also warm crème fraîche in a saucepan, then spoon it over the hot, spiced rice as you eat.

Nigel Slater’s chipolata and cranberry batter pudding recipe

The recipe

Make a batter by beating together 2 large eggs and 300ml of full fat milk. Beat in a little salt and 125g of plain flour. Don’t worry about any small lumps. Pull the leaves from 5 sprigs of thyme and stir them into the batter then leave it to rest for 20 minutes. Set the oven at 220C/gas mark 8. Evenly brown 350g of cocktail chipolatas in a little oil or bacon fat. When they are done, add 2 tbsp of marmalade and 100g of fresh or frozen cranberries to the pan and toss the sausages in it to coat them evenly. Pour the fat, together with 3 tbsp of groundnut oil or dripping into a 22cm round metal dish or similar baking tin, add the marmalade-coated sausages and place in the oven to get hot. When the oil and sausages are really hot, add the batter and return to the oven immediately. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the batter is golden and puffed around the edges. Serve immediately. Enough for 2.

The trick

Like its sister recipe the Yorkshire pudding, this one needs really hot fat if it is to achieve any sort of lightness. Let the oil and sausages get as hot as you dare, the oil may shimmer, even smoke a little, before you add the batter in one swoosh. If a thin layer of batter firms up immediately on contact with the hot fat, then the pudding should rise well.

The twist

Pieces of pancetta or smoked bacon are good here, as is black pudding, either instead of or in addition to the sausages. If cranberries are unavailable, try small cubes of sharp apple instead.