The Cookbook Challenge - Week 14 - Japanese

The Challenge for this weeks Cookbook Challenge was Japanese.  At first I thought I would something authentic, though in the end I was bored by that idea & came across this Jamie Oliver recipe that I had bypassed many times as it seemed too fiddly.  It's Japanese style Pork with Plums, Coriander, Soy Sauce & Spring Onions, too me it really doesnt sound all that Japanese apart from the use of plums which I absolutely adore, but hey I really dont know much about the cuisine apart from typical food I eat out in restaurants, you know sushi, tempura, teppanyaki, you get the drift.    Anyway in the end it wasnt as time consuming as it looked & I really loved it, the pork was very lean & steamed so top points for the healthy factor there, the plum sauce was amazing but then again what isn't amazing when made with plums, we had heaps leftover so actually used it as a dipping sauce on the side too & the greens & soy pulled it all together very nicely.  So well done I say & I am really going to start using some cook books that aren't my well worn favourites soon too I promise.

Japanese Rolled Pork with Plums, Coriander, Soy Sauce & Spring Onions - from Jamie Olive - Happy Days with the Naked Chef

10 plums
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 star anise
2 thumb sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled & finely grated
2 cloves
2 heaped tablespoons muscovado sugar
600g pork loin
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 small handful fresh coriander, washed & chopped
Spring onions
Soy Sauce

Wash the plums, then halve, remove the stones and dice into 1cm cubes.  Heat the oil in a pan and fry the star anise, ginger and cloves for 1 minute.  Add the plums & sugar with a couple of tablespoons of water, place a lid on, simmer slowly for about 20 minutes until chunky & pulpy.  Allow to cool in the fridge.

Take your pork & trim off the fate & sinews.  Cut into 0.5 cm slices & ione by one bash out the slices to about half their original size. 

Season the plum sauce and stir in half the coriander.  Smear each pork slice with some sauce & roll up like a swiss roll.  Place the rolls into a bamboo steamer & steam over simmering water for about 10-15 minutes until the meat is just cooked.  Remove from the steamer & serve on a bed of finely sliced spring onions, sprinkled with the remaining coriander & doused with soy sauce.

Notes:

Brown sugar is fine in place of muscavado if you havent got any.

I lined my steamer with baking paper & as a result the basket was full of liquid when finished, it didnt seem to compromise the flavour though it probably didnt help either

Thanks Michael for making the sauce in the morning while I was out doing the shopping!