Seared Pork in Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Once a while I do have a bottle of Thai sweet chili sauce in the fridge. Usually used as a dipping sauce for fried spring rolls or grilled meat, but this time why not add a ton of it to the actual cooking process?

Ok fine, the trust is that I was just looking for ways to finish off the Thai sweet chili sauce bottle. But it has to be a delicious way.

Seared pork in Thai sweet chili sauce - 

Ingredients?

• 470 grams pork tenderloin
• 6 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons corn starch 太白粉
• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch 地瓜粉
• 1 1/2 tablespoons green lemon or lime juice
• 1 small bundle Chinese basil or Thai basil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 red chili (optional)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

How?

Slice the pork to medium size chunks and marinate with 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and grate the garlic. Save a few whole basil leaves and chop the remaining.

Have a bowl or a plate with some depth filled with equal amount of corn starch and tapioca starch, I used 2 tablespoons each. Mix till evenly blended.

Dip the pork chunks in the starch mixture. Make sure all sides have been coated, then shake-off excess starch and set aside for later use.

Premix the sauce by combining 6 tablespoons of Thai sweet chili sauce, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice, 1 grated garlic, and chopped basil. I used about 1/3 cup loosely packed chopped basil here.

Have a pan or wok ready, drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil and switch to medium high heat. Once the oil gets hot, add in the pork and sear till golden brown and almost fully cooked-through.

Lower down to medium heat, wait for about 30 seconds then pour in the premixed sauce. Quickly coat the pork with the sauce all around and make sure the meat is fully cooked-through here.

Plate and garnish with whole basil leaves we saved earlier. I also added chopped red chili rings for a color pop. 

It's very hard to mess up this dish because we've got a great helper here - Thai sweet chili sauce. So basically the flavor is checked, all you need to be careful about is the pork searing part.

But even if you can't get some crispiness to the pork coating, I assure you this is still a pretty good rice-killing dish. A bit sweet, a bit tangy, and very flavorful. 

And I'm also glad that I get to use up all the remaining Thai sweet chili sauce in the bottle. Time to get a new one for stock.

Quick and Easy Banana Pancakes

Making pancakes is one of the best ways to utilize ripe bananas, don't you agree?

Banana pancakes - 

Ingredients (about 6 pieces)?

Dry:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet:

• 1 large or 1.5 regular size ripe banana (about 3/4 cup mashed)
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup milk

Others:

• Some avocado oil or unsalted butter
• Some honey or maple syrup
• Some fresh fruits (optional)

How?

Have a big bowl ready and sift in all the ingredients listed under the "dry" section.

Have an even bigger bowl ready, peel and mash the ripe banana there. We will need about 3/4 cup mashed banana in the end. 

Break one egg to a separate bowl and beat it, then pour into the ripe banana bowl. Also pour in 3/4 cup of milk. Whisk the whole thing till evenly blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches. Make sure it's evenly blended before dumping in the second batch. Mix till blended again.

Have a non-stick pan ready. Wipe some avocado oil or add two tablespoons of unsalted butter. Switch to medium heat and wait till warm or the butter melts.

Pour in equal amount of batter every time, and try not to let the batter touch one another. I used a ladle for even measurement. Slowly heat up the batter, it'll start to puff up a little bit and the color will turn golden brown on the bottom.

Then carefully flip the pancakes and continue to sear the other side. You can add more avocado oil or butter if needed. The whole thing will take about 1.5 or 2 minutes for each side.

Repeat till you finish all the batter. This recipe yields about 6 medium sized pancakes for me.

To serve the pancakes, have some fresh fruits on top, here I used banana slices and blueberries. Also drizzle some honey or maple syrup. I personally prefer maple syrup, somehow the aroma works better with avocado oil.

For sure the pancakes will smell and taste better if using butter, but I was opting for a less common option here. 

On a side note, for lactose-intolerant people, you can easily find lactose-free milk for the pancake batter, and just use avocado oil for the cooking part. That way you get to enjoy such brunch/snack meal without much worries.