Balinese Pork

This is one of my partner Adrian’s favourite dishes to cook. The original recipe is from a great little book, The Food of Bali – authentic recipes from the Island of the Gods written by Heinz van Holzen and Lother Arsana. We bought it in Ubud on one of our regular visits during the years that we rented a little villa in Jalan Bisma. This Balinese pork recipe transports us back to the smells of the kitchens of Ubud with its traditional ingredients of sweet soy, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and chilli all slow cooked to imbue the pork with a sweet, spicy flavour. We have adjusted the original recipe to adding lemongrass and using spring onions rather than the traditional shallots which are more difficult to find.

Prep time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients
1kg diced pork
1/2 bunch of spring onions
6 cloves of garlic
10 cm of ginger peeled and sliced thinly lengthwise
1 stalk lemongrass cut into 4 and sliced lengthwise
5 tablespoons sweet thick soy sauce(kecap manis)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1.5 teaspoons black peppercorns crushed
3 tablespoons vegetable or cocnut oil
2.5 cups chicken stock
5 small red chillies left whole with stem cut off
2 large green chillies cut into long strips, seeds removed

Method
Cut white fleshy part of sping onions from bunch and remove roots and slice in half, keep green leafy part for garnish
Bruise ginger, garlic, lemongrass and sping onion bottoms in a mortar and pestle
Heat oil in large heavy based casserole pot
Add ginger, garlic, lemongrass and sping onions to oil and stir fry for 3 minutes over medium heat until slightly coloured
Add pork and continue to stir fry over high heat until pork is browned and sealed
Add sweet soy sauce and normal soy sauce, black peppercorns and red chilles and stir fry for 1 minute
Add chicken stock and bring to boil, then lower heat to a low flame and simmer mixture for approximately an hour checking regularly to ensure it isn’t sticking at the bottom
You want the end product to have very little sauce left and the meat should be tender, dark brown and shiny.
Chop green leafy part of spring onions and use to garnish pork
Serve with jasmine rice
Serves 2-3