134. Pork satay (Thai recipe)

Thailand is famous for its spicy dishes, steeped in the aroma of lemongrass and fish sauce. One example is the Thai recipe for a low-calorie salad with avocado that I described not long ago. Now we can move on to more complicated dishes, so today I'm posting a recipe for pork satay — another recipe popular in Thailand which, made properly, can amaze you with its delicious taste.

Cooking time ≈ 1 hour.

Ingredients:

• 500 g pork tenderloin
• lime
• 2 stalks of lemongrass
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• for the sauce:
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 glass of chopped peanuts (fresh or roasted)
• 3 stalks of lemongrass
• 2 fresh red chilli peppers
• 3 shallots
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp cane sugar
• 1.5 glasses of coconut milk
• lime

An indispensable part of most Thai dishes is lemongrass (a grass whose stalks have a distinct lemon aroma) and fish sauce (an extract of marinated anchovies with the smell of sherry and a very particular taste). Without them you won't make a real recipe of a dish from Thailand, so try to stock up on all the ingredients.

To start with, cut the pork into cubes and marinate it for an hour in a mixture of lemon juice, finely chopped lemongrass, garlic and oil.

Put the prepared pork on a rack and cook it for ten minutes, turning it often and basting it with the marinade (ideally this meat should be done on a grill).

In a mortar, grind the lemongrass, the peeled and finely chopped chilli, the shallot, the garlic and the fish sauce into a smooth paste. Heat the remaining oil in a wok, add the spice paste and fry it, stirring, for 2 minutes, then add the nut paste, the sugar and the coconut milk. Stir, bring to the boil while stirring, then turn the heat right down and pour in the lime juice. Cook the sauce over low heat for about 10 minutes, until it thickens.

Serve the finished sauce with the pork and rice.

Bon appétit!