Dinner Monday September 6

We used to go to a place in Buenos Aires called Sudestada.  An oasis of asian food in sea of empanadas.  It was great, until they changed their chef and then it went downhill.  But they used to do a dish with fat-backed pork in a spicy sweet sauce, with a sauteed vegetable that I think was morning-glory.

Matt wanted me to try and recreate it.

I got some panceta, and some pork ribs as well, which I had the butcher cut up into 2cm chunks.  That's some of the panceta above.  Panceta is just the spanish word for pork belly.  Look at all that lovely fat.  Is there anything in the world as fantastic as pork fat?

I seared the panceta in tiny bit of oil, then threw it in a pot with the rib sections.  I added garlic, ginger, tamarind, soy sauce, mirin, nam-plaa, chilis, 2 cloves and some cinnamon, some pepper and salt and enough water to cover everything.

Then it simmered for 3 hours.  Great smell.

I wanted to do some sides as well.  This is bok choy with some fermented black beans.

The bok choy, some button mushrooms and girgolas with garlic and soy sauce, and some green beans with ginger and slivered onions.

We neglected to take some pictures of the finished pork as we were too busy eating.  It came out really nice.  Nothing like the dish from Sudestada that I was aiming for, but good nonetheless!  Next time, I'll put a heavier sear on the pork to get more of a crunch, and I'll add more chilis for more of a kick.  There's lots of leftovers, so maybe I'll take some pics of lunch.