Pork Fillet “A La De Freitas”

We all do it from time to time, don't we? Pick up a familiar ingredient from the shop or the freezer and do the same old thing with it. In this case, half of a pork fillet. I was blown away by the food at Macau Kitchen. In particular I raved about the aromatic crispy coconut duck. I can often make a decent stab at recreating something I've enjoyed in a restaurant but here I hadn't a clue. Then I reread the Chef Watch column featuring Chef Kei de Freitas, in particular his favourite ingredients,

An experiment was called for. This was entirely off the top of my head, and Kei may thoroughly disapprove. I stress that he had no input into it whatsoever. He has written his own cookbook* (which I don't own), and I may wheedle a recipe out of him in the fullness of time. All I can say is that the end result was flipping good.

I remembered the principles of Asian cooking. There was sweet and sour in the shape of sugar and lime. Palm sugar would be ideal. I didn't have any, so some granulated did the trick. Hot - a chilli, obviously. Salt? Actually not much, though I did marinade the pork for a wee while in soy sauce and garlic. The fifth element is sometimes described as bitter. Not sure about mine, but the game changer was the tamarind.

It's now fairly easy to find in paste form and I don't know why I don't use it more. If you've never tried it, give it a go. You'll find it in most big supermarkets and it can take many dishes to a different dimension. Don't even think about making a beef rendang without it. It's vaguely reminiscent of pomegranate molasses but has a sourness too, hence the need for a sugar balance.

Make sure you buy coconut milk, not cream, and don't let your dish boil after you've added it. With Asian cuisine, tasting as you go is even more important than ever, and you may need to adjust the seasoning at the end, perhaps with an extra squeeze of lime juice or a spot more tamarind.

Ingredients

About 300g pork fillet, all fat trimmed off; 1 medium onion, very finely chopped; 1 red chilli, deseeded, very finely chopped; 3 cloves of garlic, crushed; a shake of soy sauce; 200ml chicken stock; juice of 1 lime; piece of ginger, about 3cm, grated; 1 tbsp sugar; about 6 tsp tamarind paste; half a tin of coconut milk (about 200ml); s & p; oil for the veg.

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Prepare the pork. Split the fillet and cut into strips. Place in a bowl with two cloves of the crushed garlic and a splash of soy sauce. Mix together and put to one side while you prepare the veg. Top tip. If you want your onion chopped very finely, as you do here, leave the root on while chopping. (Remove at the end. Doh!) Fry the onion, chilli and garlic, together with some s & p, gently until soft. Don't brown the veg. Increase the heat and chuck in the pork, stirring till it's coloured all over. Add the chicken stock, lime juice and ginger, allowing the liquid to reduce by about half. Add the tamarind and the sugar. Continue on the heat until the pork is cooked through. Reduce the temperature and stir in the coconut milk, simmering gently for a few minutes.

Check the seasoning. In my experiment I used the juice of half a lime. It could have done with more. You might want more tamarind.

Serve with rice. Nasi Lewak would be good. I wrote the recipe in one of my columns years ago, but I see it was on the old site. If you're interested, email me and I'll send it to you.

*Flavours of the Portuguese Spice Trade. You can buy a signed copy when you visit the restaurant.

Tom Cooks! will be away for a few weeks recharging batteries and researching. Probably back in October.