Tonight's dinner was an odd one. I originally conceived of the idea whilst in a temple, so it's clearly a dish that God meant to exist. My plan was to marinade a large, flat piece of pork in soy sauce, honey and tomato sauce, cook it lightly, put a couple of spoonfuls of cooked rice with vegetables in the middle, wrap the pork around it, and seal it in the pan with some of the sauce draped over it. That way you could cut open a ball of pork and find rice inside! It would be like a giant inside-out rice ball.
Sadly, it turned out that the large, flat piece of pork we'd bought was mostly in little bits. I couldn't be bothered to make a million little inside-out rice balls. So I combined some recipes I vaguely know and steamrollered on: the pork marinade is mostly from my mother, who I think got it from Nigella, and the lemon risotto is from an amalgamation of risotto recipe titles I've glanced at in the past.
We both really enjoyed this meal. Even if the soy sauce-y pork didn't go brilliantly with the lemon risotto, the flavours were stunningly intense. I would be happy to eat this risotto on its own for a lunch, as well - it's the first time I've had a risotto that's been refreshing! It would be nice with chicken.
Sticky Pork with Lemon Risotto
Serves 2.5 (extra pork)
1 400g pack of pork
Soy sauce
Honey
Orange juice
Tomato sauce (passata)
1 tsp wheat flour
Chilli and cinnamon spices
Seasoning
Butter
Half an onion, chopped
2 handfuls of rice
Lemon vinegar
Chicken stock
Rosemary
Lemon juice
Broccoli
Seasoning
Chopped the pork into large bite-size pieces and put in a bowl with quantities of soy sauce, honey, orange juice and tomato sauce. I honestly don't know what these quantities were, although the soy and tomato sauces dominated - I added more honey to the pan at a later point after tasting the sauce. Added the flour, spices and seasoning to the sauce and mixed well. Covered and left for about twenty minutes.
Melted the butter on the stove on a low heat and cooked the onion till soft. Added the rice and stirred. Added lemon vinegar, probably about 1/4 of a cup, and stirred. Put a tablespoon of chicken stock powder and a sprinkling of rosemary into a jug, made chicken stock, and added bit by bit, stirring in between. After about ten minutes I put the pork and the marinade juices into another pan and left on a medium heat. Ten minutes later I added some broccoli stems to the risotto and continued to cook, tasting and adding lemon juice and seasoning periodically. Once cooked, I drained the risotto to get rid of some of the excess starch, served both the rice and pork, and ate with chopsticks.
