Thursday, April 18, 2013

Recipe: Chinese stir fried pork mince with fresh herbs

Every fortnight, we would cook stir fried pork mince for dinner as it is quick and delicious. Recently, we discovered a new way of eating it - serving it with fresh herbs from the garden! As you all know, I have a herb garden and it has been flourishing and I was thinking of ways to serve and use up the herbs. This was a great pairing!

Stir fried pork mince with fresh herbs

After trying this dish with various herbs, four herbs that I like best with it are daun kesum (knotweed), Thai basil, ulam raja and curry leaves. All these herbs can be eaten raw, so all you need to do is wash them and then pluck the leaves from the stalks and then finely chop them. If I could choose only one of these four herbs, I would go for the daun kesum. Daun kesum is slightly spicy eaten on its own, but with the pork mince, the spiciness is toned done and is very refreshing eaten together. You can get most of these herbs in the wet market or even supermarkets such as Tesco (except ulam raja which is a bit harder to find outside I think).

Fresh herbs from the garden :)


I usually serve them alongside the stir fried minced pork, and to eat, just scoop some herbs with the pork and enjoy. If you cannot get these herbs, you can always substitute with other herbs that you like eating. Most of these herbs are good for your health, and the idea is to get more of this into your diet. For example, daun kesum is said to be able to aid digestion and is rich in beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C and other minerals.

Both my kids love the pork mince, but for the herbs they prefer to eat them whole than finely chop (I don't give them kesum cos it's spicy). So I usually hand over a whole stalk of curry leaves to them, and especially Baby D would slowly pluck the leaves off one by one. Yes, my kids are a herb-eating lot! ;)





Stir fried pork mince with fresh herbs
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 12- 15 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
300g minced pork
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
3 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp light soy sauce, or to taste
1/2 tsp Shaoxing wine

Herbs you can use:
20g daun kesum
20g curry leaves
20g Thai basil leaves
20g ulam raja

1. In a large frying pan or wok, heat cooking oil over medium heat and add the garlic and shallots, and fry for 2 minutes until lightly browned.  Add the mince pork and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly and cook until the pork looks browned. Once the mince pork is cooked, season with light soy sauce and Shaoxing wine and remove from heat.

2. While the pork is cooking, finely chop the herbs. Serve herbs alongside the pork mince with some white rice.

Note: Do not chop the herbs too far in advance as some will oxidise quickly and leaves will turn black.



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31 comments:

  1. Yen, this is a good way to consume herbs, so delicious! I was unaware that we can eat curry leaves raw.

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    Replies
    1. Yes no problems eating the curry leaves raw.

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  2. Hmmm..this is very refreshing. I like the combination of herbs with the minced pork. Simply delicious!

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    1. Thanks Yee Ling! Makes the pork dish feel more "healthy" too.

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  3. Stir Fry minced pork with Thai basil leaves is yummy!

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    Replies
    1. Haha yes! That's quite a popular Thai dish hor.

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  4. Hi Yen, I am not familiar with Kesum and ulam raja, is kesum same as laksa leaves?

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    1. Hi Esther, kesum is the one used in making assam laksa. You can buy these easily in Tesco, pluck the leaves (for cooking) and then place the stalks in water until new roots grow then plant in a pot/garden. Very easy to grow.

      Ulam raja's flower looks like this: http://babysumophotography.blogspot.com/2012/07/standing-tall-ulam-raja-kl-malaysia.html
      and in the 2nd photo, the leaves are the one far back.

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  5. Hi Yen,

    I'm imagining the fragrances of this dish. It must smelling very good with all this aromatic herbs combination.

    Zoe

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    Replies
    1. We're kinda hooked on this dish, need to make it every fortnight without fail.

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  6. This would go well with noodles too... like the Hakka mee!

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    1. Ah yes same concept, except this stir fried pork mince is a little drier (no gravy) and more fragrant.

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  7. The combination of all these would be great rolled in wraps! I can imagine the fragrance from all the fresh herbs!

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  8. You mix altogether and eat? Your original version of lui cha...with meat.

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    1. My mum mixes all the different herbs with the pork but I like to eat them individually with the pork. A bit of this, a bit of that.

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  9. bone-free, tender and flavorful meat with crisp, fresh, zesty leaves ... i want this!!! :D

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    1. I'll make sure to put this on the cafe menu! :P Hehe.

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  10. Sounds like something I'd enjoy. Very refreshing.

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    1. Oh hope you'll try it then! Let me know if you like it.

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  11. Oh I love fresh herbs! They can really lift the flavour of a dish so much. Great use for them :D

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    1. I'm crazy about herbs too, cant seem to stop buying them and planting more and more in my garden! Good thing is my kids love eating them too.

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  12. Yen, you cooked this dish smartly. Can "lou san" like this. Yes, definitely need a big bowl of rice to eat with this!

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    Replies
    1. My kids always start picking on this dish (curi makan) even before dinner time.

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  13. when i saw herbs, I know that I had to enter!!

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  14. Love the way you have incorporated herbs in this dish!!

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  15. Very appetizing dish ! Love those herbs ....

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  16. I love those fresh herbs especially ulam raja!!! I need for more rice to go with your stir fried pork mince,yum yum :)

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  17. So envy your herb garden, if you got the extra seeds, can send some to me kah? nice way to enjoy minced pork with home grown herbs..

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  18. Nice! Will make really nice 'sang choi pau' filling too! Great idea with the herbs.

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