Pistachio and Pork Almost Satay...

Mis en Place!  When I was at college our Chef always used to remind us of this at the start of a lesson.  It means everything in its place or more simply do your prep!  Not like me who forgot to buy some skewers…

When you ask most people what Satay is they’ll probably describe those horrid mice on sticks.  Suspiciously grey chicken on tooth picks perfect for cheap company buffets.

Satay should simply be meat grilled on sticks with sauce much like Kushiyaki or Yakitori is in Japan.  So what happens if you forget the sticks?  Fuck it and throw it all together?  Yeah that’ll do, I'm not precious...

Imagine then, instead of the goop up there, some lovely skewered pork.  Pieces of crunchy skin from the grill with the creamy pistachio sauce on the side.  Am I kidding anyone?  Probably not but it was pretty good all the same!

Ingredients:

Pork Belly – 400g is enough for two and I’ve left the skin on but you don’t have to.

1 tbsp Coriander Seeds and Cumin seeds

100g Pistachio Butter – Blend 100g of raw Pistachio.

A Tin of Coconut Milk

5 Green Chillis

2 Shallots – Finely Chopped

1 hand full of Sugar Snaps - sliced

A splash of oil

1 tbsp of Fish Sauce

1 tbsp of Soy

First blanch your pork belly in boiling water for 30 minutes or so just to get the cooking process started.  Grilling the belly on skewers from raw won’t give you that really sticky result you want.  Trust me on this one.

While this is cooking toast the coriander and cumin seeds for a few minutes in a hot dry pan.  Crush them loosely in a pestle and mortar and use this as a seasoning rub for the belly when it has cooled down a bit.

If you’ve got some skewers I’d chop up the belly at this point into bite sized cubes and gently grill it for the next stage.  You can see I’ve left my mine whole as I forgot the skewers, I wanted crackling don’t judge me, and finished it in the oven.

Under a medium grill this would take about ten minutes or so, you’ll need to keep an eye on it though and turn them regularly to get an even colouring and not burn the rub!  Remember to soak the skewers in cold water first though to avoid burning.

The sauce is really easy but just needs a little attention.  Finely chop the shallot and soften it in a pan with a little oil.  Pour in your coconut, the pistachio butter, chilli and other wet ingredients then stir...

You want it to become one thick sauce rather than coconut milk with lumps of pistachio floating through so take a minute to do it properly.  Leave it to thicken and cook through on a low heat till the meat is done!

When the meat is cooked whether you’ve grilled or just given up like me and thrown it all together put the sugar snaps into the sauce last.

These add a bit of freshness to the dish and texture so add them just moments before serving.  Serve with rice and a mental note to take a shopping list with you when you go to the market!