I haven’t blogged in five years and I’d forgotten the pride I had in owning it. Today it looks like a time capsule of much simpler and exciting times. Some of these experiences I had written about feels like a window into someone else’s life. 

However, someone told me recently, ‘I miss reading you’, so here I am trying to rekindle my lost love of blogging.

This new first is an original recipe inspired by familiar Asian flavours. Our food habits these days are dictated by what we can buy during a desperate visit to a supermarket or the random substitutes we receive when we order online. These pork loin steaks were one of those random substitutions.

Pork loin steaks are thin slices of pork and very much like a low fat bacon. Since I ordered the pork with an image of chilli pork in my mind I didn’t know what to do with it! I don’t know what I was thinking because we cook meals these days with one criteria in mind. The toddler should also be able to eat it to save ourselves from the hassle of cooking multiple meals. So cooking something for the pleasure of the adults is a luxury these days. Since I didn’t have chillies, soya sauce, or any of the ingredients that go into chilli pork, I had no option but to improvise as I cooked.

Once the pork loins went into the hot oil in my wok, they curled up and shrunk like bacon and given their leanness they would need a sauce or a glaze to prevent them from drying out.

I am not fond of sweet and sour at all because I like my meat and veg to be savoury. However, I don’t mind a hint of sweetness which enhances the other flavours in a dish.

So I added a tablespoon of ginger paste to the sizzling pork. Ginger adds warmth and flavour to anything you add it to. Living dangerously I added the spiciest ingredient in my cupboard – a teaspoon of dried birds-eye chillies. Chopped tomatoes and a past-its-best bell pepper followed the chillies into the wok. My spur-of-the-moment pork bubbled quite nicely producing a tangy sauce with a hint of spice. On tasting it I realised it was missing something and I had to add something sticky and sweet for flavour and a glaze. The only thing sticky and sweet I had was a sweet and sticky mango pickle I had bought on my last visit to India. So in went a dollop (read: heaped tablespoon).

I am amazed by the end result and it’s sweet, tangy and spicy without bothering me in the least.

Ingredients

  • 600 grams of any pork sliced or diced
  • 1 tablespoon of ginger
  • 2 juicy tomatoes
  • 1 bell pepper
  • dried red chillies or flakes
  • salt and black pepper to taste
  • sweet mango pickle
  • garnish with chopped coriander

My verdict is that this is a very adaptable recipe and you can switch the meat to chicken, quorn, paneer, or tofu. To use this recipe for lamb or beef the cooking time would significantly increase. This took me 20 minutes including thinking time.

Written by Amrita Dasgupta - Visit my blog for more food and travel stories
I love to travel, discover new things, experience new cultures and then I get back home and experiment with the new food and recipes I discovered on my travels. My blog is about all those life experiences. If you’ve enjoyed this post, keep in touch with Drifting Traveller on Twitter and Facebook or by adding my blog to your RSS feed. Follow my blog with Bloglovin or Networked Blogs! If you really like reading the Drifting Traveller why not share it with people you know who'd like to read it too.