Caramelised pork with fresh noodle salad

Caramelised pork with fresh noodle salad

Ever tried fish sauce caramel? It’s the star ingredient in this caramelised pork dish which is a speedy bowl full of in-your-face flavour. The deeply complex fish sauce caramel glazes the pork as it cooks, while the vibrant Vietnamese-inspired pesto brings herbaceous acidity alongside a fresh noodle salad. A knock-out summer meal.

Caramelised pork with fresh noodle salad

Love cooking with pork? We’ve got lots of pork recipe inspiration with your name on it.

  • Serves icon Serves 2
  • Time icon Hands on time 30 minutes

Ever tried fish sauce caramel? It’s the star ingredient in this caramelised pork dish which is a speedy bowl full of in-your-face flavour. The deeply complex fish sauce caramel glazes the pork as it cooks, while the vibrant Vietnamese-inspired pesto brings herbaceous acidity alongside a fresh noodle salad. A knock-out summer meal.

Love cooking with pork? We’ve got lots of pork recipe inspiration with your name on it.

Nutrition: per serving

Calories
805kcals
Fat
44g (11g saturated)
Protein
47g
Carbohydrates
53g (41g sugars)
Fibre
3.1g
Salt
3.4g

Ingredients

  • 75g light brown sugar
  • 60ml fish sauce, plus ½ tbsp
  • 20ml light soy sauce
  • 80g dried rice noodles
  • 30g salted peanuts
  • 1 garlic clove
  • ½ red chilli
  • ¼ bunch coriander
  • ¼ bunch basil
  • 30g olive oil
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges
  • Dash vegetable oil
  • 2 pork shoulder steaks, ideally thick-cut
  • 2 spring onions
  • ¼ cucumber
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Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6. Put the sugar, 60ml fish sauce and soy sauce in a small saucepan with 100ml water. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, swirling rather than stirring, until it thickens and turns syrupy (about 5-7 minutes). Set aside.
  2. Put the noodles in a bowl, cover with boiling water, leave to sit for 3 minutes, then drain and run under a cold tap to cool. To make the peanut pesto, put the peanuts, garlic, chilli, herbs and olive oil in a blender or food processor and whiz into a chunky pesto. Taste and season with the remaining ½ tbsp fish sauce and a squeeze of lime. Set aside.
  3. Put a large frying pan over a high heat with a dash of vegetable oil and, once hot, add the pork steaks. Cook for a minute each side to brown, then transfer to a tray and liberally cover both sides with the fish sauce caramel. Put the tray in the oven and cook for 6 minutes, turning the steaks halfway through. Leave to rest while finishing the salad.
  4. Slice the spring onions in half, then into strips lengthways and put in cold water to crisp up. Halve the cucumber lengthways, scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon, then finely slice into moons. Toss the peanut pesto with the noodles, then add the cucumber and drained spring onions. Divide between bowls, then top with the pork, drizzling over any leftover caramel on the tray. Serve with a wedge of lime.

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving
Calories
805kcals
Fat
44g (11g saturated)
Protein
47g
Carbohydrates
53g (41g sugars)
Fibre
3.1g
Salt
3.4g

delicious. tips

  1. The caramel tends to pair best with pork, but it’s great drizzled over steak or chicken too.

Buy ingredients online

Recipe By:

Pollyanna Coupland
Food producer, delicious.

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