Vietnamese Pork

This is another recipe from the awesome Madjur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible. It's an unusual fusion of Thai and Southern Indian cooking that is franky superb.

It profits from using pork loin, one of the best cuts of meat it's possible to use. Supermarkets do sliced pork loin that's ideal for this recipe, and you can marinade it in the plastic tray the meat comes in, for convenience.

You do need to plan ahead, because of the marinading, but the actual cooking is very quick. It's very good with boiled rice and spinach bhaji.

• For the marinade
• 1lb Sliced Pork Loin
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons nam pla
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• 1 stick fresh lemongrass chopped finely, or a squeeze of that lemongrass-in-a-tube (we use the tube stuff and it's fine)
• 3-4 shallots, or a small onion (shallots are best), very finely chopped
• 2-3 birds eye chillis, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon groundnut oil
• ½ teaspoon madras curry powder
• For stir frying
• groundnut oil
• another 3-4 shallots, or another small onion, thinly sliced

Cut the pork loin into strips about an inch wide. and mix them up with the marinade ingredients. Leave in the fridge for 1 - 2 hours.

Get a wok nice and hot with the oil, and chuck in the shallots. Cook till slightly browned, then chuck in the pork and the marinade. Stir fry over the highest heat you can get out of your hob keeping it moving very rapidly until the meat is just cooked through - don't overdo it.

Then straight onto a bed of rice.

Goes well with a fruity robust red, or a spicy white. Enjoy!