Andy Oliver puts a Thai spin on the sweet green cabbage with oyster mushrooms and crispy pork belly – and it's bound to be spicy, so it works well washed down with plenty of Singha beer.
Andy Oliver's stir-fried hispi cabbage with oyster mushrooms and crispy pork
Not sure how to get stuck into 2016's most hipster ingredient, hispi cabbage? Som Saa's Andy Oliver gives it a Thai twist
Serves 2-4
Preparation time 30 mins
Cooking time 10 mins
Ingredients
- 250g of rindless pork belly in a 4-5cm thick strip
- A large pinch of fine salt
- 100ml of plain oil (e.g. sunflower, or vegetable)
- ½ a hispi cabbage, core removed and sliced into roughly 8 large pieces
- 100g of oyster mushrooms, large ones roughly torn in half
- 3 spring onions, cut into 3cm long lengths
- 4-5 peeled cloves of garlic
- A small 5 inch piece of ginger, cut into match sticks
- 2 red bird's eye chillies, lightly bruised
- 200ml of chicken or vegetable stock (or water, at a push)
- A large pinch of white sugar
- 1 tbsp of oyster sauce (preferably a Thai brand)
- 2 tbsp of fish sauce
- A pinch of ground white pepper
Method
- First prepare the pork: place a steamer pot with a generous amount of water in, on the stove, and bring to the boil.
- Sprinkle the pork belly with the fine salt, place in the steamer and cover with a lid Steam for 15-20 minutes until the pork is fully cooked and starting to soften slightly.
- Remove from the pot and allow to cool.
- Pat the pork belly dry with kitchen paper to remove excess moisture and then slice it across into 1cm thick slices.
- Now crisp up the pork by adding the 100ml of oil to a wok and placing on a medium heat.
- When the oil is hot add the pork slices and shallow fry, be careful as it will spit a bit (you can use a lid or splatter guard to avoid too much spitting in your direction).
- Fry the pork, stirring regularly until golden and crisp – about 4-5 minutes.
- Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on kitchen paper to drain.
Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the oil, and then return the wok to the heat, turn the heat to high and add the garlic, fry briefly until beginning to turn golden. - Now quickly add the cabbage, bruised chillies, ginger, mushrooms and spring onions. Stir fry for a minute on a high heat before adding the stock or water, quickly followed by the seasoning (oyster and fish sauces, pepper and sugar).
- Keep the heat high and stir fry for 2-3 more minutes before adding your crispy pork.
- Toss this all together briefly to heat the pork through before tasting for seasoning (it may need a touch more fish sauce).
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