I had to find something to do with the other half of the boneless pork neck I bought last week and I decided against just sticking it in the oven. I decided to slice it into thick steaks, fuse it with a blend of Indian and Chinese spices and so I came up with Indian Roasted Pineapple Pork. The heat of the Indian spices blended with sweet of the Chinese spices, slow roasted, almost poached resulted in something really delicious. The juices left behind called for sweet and sour sauce. A fluke creation I’m really proud of. I served with grilled baby corn and asparagus.
Ingredients
1 kg boneless pork neck
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 green cardamom
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp chili powder (your usual)
1 tsp dania/jeera powder
1 tsp five spice powder
Pinch of bicarb
1 Tblsp light soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 Tblsp Hoisin sauce
1 Tblsp Oyster sauce
1 Tblsp rice wine vinegar (or ACV)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 can pineapple rings in juice
½ cup chicken stock
½ cup tomato sauce
3 Tblsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tblsp corn starch
3 Tblsp vinegar
Method:
With a very sharp knife slice the pork into thick steaks.
Add all seeds to hot pan and dry roast till fragrant.
Once cool, grind to fine powder.
Add the remainder of the ingredients up to sesame oil to a blender and blend till smooth. Pour over pork, cover and marinade for an hour.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Add pork steaks.
Peel onion, half, quarter then separate the leaves, scatter over pork.
Toss in garlic wherever.
Mix half the pineapple juice with the chicken stock and pour around the steaks.
Place pineapple slices over steaks.
Cover and roast for about an hour.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Remove steaks and heat juices on a stove top. Bring to a boil.
Mix corn starch with a little water till smooth.
In a glass bowl/jug add tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar and remainder of pineapple juice and stir till sugar dissolves.
Add corn starch mixture and blend.
Using whisk, add to boiling juices and keep whisking till thickened.
Pour over steaks.
While making the sauce you can grill pineapple slices under the grill till slightly charred
The baby corn and asparagus I just drizzled with olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper and roasted in a preheated oven at 180C for 12 minutes.
Prepared, tried and tested by: Melanie Kramar
