Indonesian Pork, Fast and Easy
Oh, this tastes so good! Indonesian flavours are robust, aromatic and invigorate the taste buds, but in a pleasant and by no means thuggish way.
I have kept this fragrant rather than hot and spicy because I didn't want to mask the wonderfully delicate flavours, but if you'd like a little more heat just add fresh chilli or chilli paste.
The list of ingredients is perhaps a little long, but I hope you will agree, it's worth it because in every other way, it's completely simple.
Ingredients
4 pork shoulder steaks
Marinade:
2 onions, finely chopped
5 fat cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 tbsps. root ginger, grated
Generous squeeze lemon grass paste (from a tube)
Generous handful of fresh coriander, both leaves and stalks
2 heaped tsps. medium curry powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tbsp. soft brown sugar
1 tbsp. Thai fish sauce (Nam Pla)
400ml tin coconut milk, full fat
Salt and pepper
Oven 160c or 140c fan, gas 3
Method
Whizz all the marinade ingredients together with a stick hand blender or food processor until smooth. I add just a bit of the coconut milk, whizz well and then add the rest of it.
Put the pork steaks into a roasting pan which will fit them fairly snugly all in one layer
Pour over the marinade, cover tightly with foil and leave in the fridge to absorb the flavours for as long as you can, preferably over night (but it will still taste good if you cook it at once)
Transfer to the oven and cook just as it is, still covered with the foil, for approximately an hour and a half, by which time the pork should be soft and yielding
Serve with boiled rice
Helpful Hints
You can cut up the pork steaks if you prefer small pieces of meat, but remember the fat within the steaks will, to a great extent, melt away during cooking - helping to keep the meat soft and succulent - so the cut up pieces of meat could end up very small indeed.
The amount of liquid does not seem very much, but more will accumulate as the pork cooks.
This will keep for 3 days in the fridge after cooking. It will also freeze well.
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