Crispy minced pork with noodles

• For the cucumber salad:
• 1 large cucumber
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2-3 sprigs of mint, leaves stripped and finely chopped
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• For the pork:
• 1 tbsp. groundnut oil
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 1 lemongrass stem, finely chopped
• 3cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped (2 tbsp.)
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 3-4 birdseye chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 300g (10oz) best minced pork
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g (4 tbsp.) brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. fish sauce (nam pla)
• To serve:
• 2 portions of dried egg or rice medium noodles
• sesame oil, to drizzle
• 3 spring onions, green part only, sliced
• soy sauce
• sriracha sauce

METHOD

1. Peel the cucumber, halve it lengthwise and scrape the seeds out with a small spoon or a melon baller. Slice into 1 cm chunks on a diagonal. Toss the cucumber with the salt and caster sugar and set on a sieve or colander over a bowl for 15 minutes or longer, while you peel and chop all the other ingredients. After that time shake it on the sieve to drain the liquid, transfer to a serving bowl and toss with the mint, brown sugar and rice vinegar.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet or a frying pan over medium heat (use the wok if you like but this is going to be frying rather than stir-frying so an ordinary frying pan might work better). Add the onion, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for a couple of minutes until the onion softens.

3. Add the pork mince, sprinkle with salt and cook it, breaking up with a fork, until it’s no longer pink. Turn up the heat, add the brown sugar and fish sauce, stir once and leave it to cook without stirring for about 2 minutes, until all the moisture cooks off and the pork starts to caramelise. Stir once, scraping the crisp bits and leave it to cook again until all the bits of meat are crisp to your liking.

4. While the pork is cooking, put on the water to boil for the noodles. Soak or simmer them as instructed on the packet, drain and toss with a little sesame oil.

5. Divide the noodles between serving bowls. Spoon the pork over the noodles, sprinkle with spring onions and serve with the soy and sriracha sauce on the side.

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See also

thai noodles with cinnamon

chicken chow mein

sesame noodles