Main Course, Meat, Recipes
Published on November 20, 2011
Comments 8

Garlic Pepper Sliced Pork

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The story started when I decided to take a ride on the Metro from Indiranagar to MG Road. I had already used the metro the day it opened, but that was purely on a touristy whim. This time I wanted to be a commuter with a purpose. The purpose – taking me to the holy grail at the end of the boulevard – The Bangalore Ham shop. After picking up the usual, the owner suggested I try the sliced pork. And there begins my dilemma. The sliced pork looked fantastic – meat and fat in thin slices, almost bacon-ey. I wanted to do something different with it, something special. I combed through the internet but nothing impressed me. I posted a ‘Help me’ on the Foodies in Bangalore page and waited …waited… waited. Finally, I met chef and restaurateur Madhu Menon on Saturday for lunch.  He asked me if it was Korean style sliced pork. I say yes. He asked me if I wanted an authentic recipe? I said I wanted it to taste like the indianized chilly pork in restaurants. Stunned Silence! Considering he is a pan-asian chef, this was tantamount to blasphemy. After sheepishly apologizing for my lack of refinement, he relented with his Garlic Pepper Pork recipe. It needed Oyster Sauce. I din’t have any. I was contemplating to just wing it without, when Madhu’s “tsk tsk” face appeared in my head. So I went and bought some and the rest as they say is history! I am now harboring the most intense love for it! To sum it up – Best oriental Pork recipe ever! All hail Madhu Menon!

_MG_4740-1Garlic Pepper Pork

(Recipe Courtesy: Madhu Menon)

Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 12 mins
Serves: 4
What you need:
250 gms Sliced Pork
1 Tbsp Coriander root
1 Tbsp/ 2 tsp White Pepper powder (Or lower, depending on taste)
1 Tbsp Garlic, minced
2 Green Chilli, chopped
2 Tbsp Oil (peanut/vegetable)
2 Tbsp Dark Soy
2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
3 Tbsp Water/ Stock
What to do:
Buy the sliced pork. Because slicing it at home is a pain and you won’t get the right amount of fat and meat in each slice. Cut up the slices into 2 inch strips. (I use a scissor). Get all your prep done. Wash the coriander root (it has the most flavor, followed by the stems). Mince it up finely or whizz in a chopper for a few seconds. Keep all your ingredients at hand, cause timing is critical in a stir fry.

Heat a wok till smoking and add the oil. Toss in the coriander root, garlic and white pepper powder and fry for a minute. The pepper will stick to the bottom of the wok, just scrape and stir. Add the pork and green chili and stir-fry for 3 minutes. You can see the pork releasing the fat and the meat getting opaque. Now add the soy and oyster sauce and the sugar. Stir for another minute. Add the water and incorporate so that the dish dosen’t burn. Stir for 3 more minutes. Serve hot!

P.S. Actual cooking time depends on the thickness of the slices and the temperature of the wok. So make sure you check a slice for doneness, before taking it off the heat.

_MG_4746-2

8 Comments

  1. Swaps says

    I thought I should have mentioned that! Basically when you buy a bunch of corainder, make sure its got the stems and a bit of the white root attached as well. That's all there is to corainder root. The supermarket variety generally chops off the stems and root to make it more presentable. If you buy off the local farmers / street vendors the roots are always there. BUT even if you dont find it don't fret. The leaves will still do, but the favour will be muted.

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  3. Swaps says

    @ Sandip – Thats what I thought as well! But since the slices are so fine and mostly ribbed with fat it does cook off quick. So I guess the key is to buy sliced pork.

    @ Kurush – Thank you .. thats my goal 🙂

    @ Sarah – I love the MG Road Ham Shop. Been going there since I was a kid. Owe my alligence to him 😉 Hope your guy has Korean style sliced pork, otherwise I would suggest a little longer on the final stir-fry time.

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  4. Sarah says

    Hi Swapna… First time to your blog. Pork is one of our favourites! And this looks absolutely stunning! btw, you have to go all the way to MG Road for good pork? Thankfully there's a good shop near where I live…

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