Asian Weekend Continues...Green Curry Pork with Cumin-Spiced Pepitas

Credit Bon Appetit magazine for this yummy honey, from Root Down, a restaurant in Denver. The pepitas (pumpkin seeds, just the insides, with the tougher outer white portion shelled, they're usually found in those racks on endcaps at stores with all the dried fuit and nuts in cellophane packages hanging on j-hooks) add a nice spicy-sweet crunchy touch. Mangia!

Pork and Marinade

1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (I was out. I used molasses instead) 

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 pork tenderloins (about 2 1/4 pounds total)

Spiced Pepitas

Cumin-Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3/4 cup shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Kosher salt

Curry Sauce and Assembly

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

1 small shallot, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/4 cup green Thai curry paste

1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon (packed) light brown sugar

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

Finished dish!

8 servings

Pork and Marinade  

Combine soy sauce, orange juice, maple syrup, and sesame oil in a large resealable plastic bag. Add pork and seal bag. Chill, turning occasionally, at least 8 hours or up to 1 day.

Cumin-Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pumpkin seeds and toast, shaking pan often, until seeds are brown, about 4 minutes. Add cumin seeds, then gradually add sugar, then lime juice, tossing constantly to coat seeds with melted sugar and juice. Transfer pumpkin seed mixture to a foil-lined baking sheet; spread out and let cool. Season with salt.

Curry Sauce and Assembly

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallot and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add curry paste and lime zest and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

 

Add coconut milk and bring just to a boil, stirring and scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is reduced by half, 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

 

Transfer coconut milk mixture to a blender. Add cilantro, lime juice, brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons water and blend until smooth. With motor running, drizzle in remaining 2 tablespoons oil and blend until creamy. Season curry sauce with salt and pepper, return to pan, and cover to keep warm.

 

Prepare grill for medium-high heat. Remove pork from marinade; pat dry. Grill pork, turning often, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 140°, 15-20 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes.

 

Slice pork and serve with curry sauce and cumin-spiced pumpkin seeds.

 

DO AHEAD:Cumin-spiced pumpkin seeds and curry sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Store pumpkin seeds airtight at room temperature. Cover and chill curry sauce.

A Dangerous-Looking Fruit - Carlos Dragon.....fruit

Sorry, failed at attempt to tie this recipe into the Anthony Weiner debacle, which has absolutely nothing to do with this fruit or the recipe. Ok? Let's move on!

The store had these beautifully odd-looking specimens, Dragonfruit. Who doesn't like a fruit that looks like it could kill you by flinging one of its pokey sharp-y thingies at you, like Oddjob throwing his lethal hat, or Rosa Klebb with her venom-laced shoe blade. Hold it. We went from Weiner to James Bond? Get on with it, already! 

So, to work with these beauties, you slice them in half lengthwise and then scoop out the flesh like you would with an avocado. Be sure to trim off all the pretty orange-pink skin. The flesh is firm enough to cube or slice. The texture is similar to Kiwi fruit.  Let's make a salad. This is based on a recipe from Thaifood.about.com. Mangia! 


Asian Fruit Salad

 

YIELD: 1 large bowl of fruit salad

 

1 fresh dragonfruit, cubed

1 cup fresh pineapple chunks

1 banana, sliced

1 cup mango, cubed

1 cup strawberries, sliced or cut into quarters

1 cup Kiwi fruit, cubed

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
6 or 7 basil leaves sliced into a chiffonade
Small handful of mint leaves

 

FRUIT SALAD DRESSING:

1/4 cup coconut milk

1 Tbsp. freshly-squeezed lime juice

2 Tbsp. brown sugar OR palm sugar

Preparation:

1. Stir fruit salad dressing ingredients together in a cup until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
2. Place all the fresh fruit in a mixing bowl.
3. Pour the dressing over and toss well to mix.
4. Pour or scoop the fruit salad into a serving bowl

It's Salad...It's Asian-style Salad...With Steak!

Skip to next paragraph It's been a busy and sad couple of weeks, centered around a pet's declining health and a difficult decision to help it out of its suffering. But I was ready to cook yesterday and felt like Asian.

This is a Mark Bittman recipe, part of his series of Almost Meatless recipes, but I added the step of marinating the flank steak. Mangia!

Thai Beef Salad

8 ounces skirt or flank steak

Marinade

2 tablespoons Tamari

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon each minced garlic and ginger

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon sriracha

Salad

6 cups torn salad greens (mixed is nice)

1 cup torn fresh herb leaves (mint, cilantro and basil)

1/4 cup red onion, sliced thinly 

1 medium cucumber, peeled if skin is tough, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and diced

Small red bell pepper, sliced thinly

Dressing

1 small fresh hot red chili, like Thai, or to taste, minced

Juice of 2 limes

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon fish sauce (nam pla, available at Asian markets) or soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sugar.

Combine marinade ingredients and marinate steak for 1 hour.

Start a gas or charcoal grill or heat a broiler; rack should be about 4 inches from heat source. Grill or broil beef until medium rare, turning once or twice, 5 to 10 minutes, depending on thickness; set it aside to cool.

Toss greens with herbs, onion, bell pepper and cucumber. In a bowl, combine all remaining ingredients with 1 tablespoon water; dressing will be thin. Use half of this mixture to toss with greens. Remove greens to a platter.

Slice beef thinly, reserving its juice; combine juice with remaining dressing. Lay slices of beef over salad, drizzle remaining dressing over all, and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

Stir Fry Eggplant and Pork with Black Bean Garlic Sauce and a Side of Spicy Okra with Leeks

Tempting little adorable Thai eggplants and baby purple globe eggplants proved irresistible, as did the mounds of okra at the Linda Vista Farmers Market this week. Alas, no zucchini blossoms but Rodriguez Farms will bring some next week (I have dibs on the first dozen, so fugeddaboutit).
 

A stir fry was called for. I recalled a grilled pork and baby bok choy dish I have made in the past, one with a black bean garlic sauce marinade. The baby bok choy brushed with the marinade and thrown on the grill is to die for.
 

So, I threw together black bean garlic sauce, Tamari, Szechuan peppercorns, more garlic, ginger and other delights (below), reserved a bit of the marinade, gave the pork a beautiful bath in it and voila!

The side is simple: a Sriracha-based sauce that I use frequently, okra and sliced leeks. I cooked the side first, then wiped out the wok and did the pork dish.

 

Mangia!

 

Stir Fry Eggplant and Pork with Black Bean Garlic Sauce

 

Eggplant and Pork

1 lb. pork tenderloin

4 Thai eggplants

2 baby purple globe eggplants or Japanese eggplants

6 green onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

 

Marinade

3 tbsp. black bean garlic sauce

2 tbsp. Tamari

1 tbsp. rice vinegar

1 tbsp. Szechuan peppercorns

1 tbsp. each sesame oil

1” piece ginger minced

2 garlic cloves minced

 

Good sized handful of cilantro

 

Slice the pork into 2" long thin strips. Mix the marinade ingredients and reserve 1/4 cup. Toss with the pork and allow to marinate for about 30 minutes.

 

Slice the eggplants into 1/2" wide slices and cut the slices in half. Slice the green onions into 2" long pieces. Heat the work and add some peanut oil and a dash of sesame oil. Stir fry the garloc and green onion for a few seconds to soften and add the eggplant. Fry for a few minutes then add the pork. Continue stir frying until eggplants are softened but still have some bite to them and the pork is just cooked through. There is no need to cook today's pork to death. Just to medium leaves it juicy.

 

 

Spicy Okra with Leeks

1 lb. fresh okra

2 leeks

2 tbsp. Sriracha

2 tbsp. Tamari

1” piece ginger minced

2 garlic cloves minced

1 tbsp. each sesame oil and rice vinegar

 

  Slice the okra in half lengthwise. You can top and tail them if you like, but I don’t. Thoroughly clean the leeks (sandy little buggers!) and cut off root ends and dark green part. Slice the leeks in half lengthwise and slice them into 1/2” pieces.

Mix the other ingredients and toss the okra in it. Heat the wok and add some peanut oil and a dash of spicy sesame oil, if you have it. If you don’t, use regular sesame oil. Add the leeks and stir fry for a couple of minutes until starting to brown a little. Add the okra and continue stir frying until the okra is softened a bit but still has some bite.

Enjoy both dishes with some rice.