Jamie Magazine
By Joss Herd
Crispy basil salad with pork & pickled carrots
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serves 2
About the recipe
A fusion of Thai and Chinese, this salad is packed with great zingy flavours. To save time, make the pickled carrots in advance and refrigerate until needed.
Recipe From
Ingredients
500ml groundnut oil
300g higher-welfare minced pork
1 pinch of ground white pepper
3 spring onions
1 tablespoon red Thai paste
300ml organic chicken stock
1 small cube of bread, to test the oil
1 bunch of holy basil
1 head of gem or iceberg lettuce
PICKLED CARROTS
200ml rice vinegar
100g sugar
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 star anise
2 medium carrots
Method
- To make the pickled carrots, add the rice vinegar to a saucepan over a medium heat with the sugar, fennel seeds, star anise, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Bring to a simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Finely slice the carrots in a mandolin. Remove the pan from the heat, tip in the carrots and stir to coat. Leave to cool completely, then let pickle for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the groundnut oil in a wok until smoking hot. Add the minced pork, season with the white pepper and a pinch of salt, then toss until golden and starting to crisp.
- Finely slice the spring onions. Add 2 of the chopped spring onions to the pan with the red thai paste and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the stock, and turn down the heat, cooking for a further 20 minutes, or until the stock has evaporated and the pork is tender, cooked and starting to crisp up again.
- In a separate pan, heat the rest of the groundnut oil. Add the cube of bread; if it browns in 10 seconds, your oil is hot enough to start frying. Pick the basil leaves, discarding the stalks. In batches, fry the basil leaves for 3 seconds, until they’re translucent and crisp (careful of the hot oil, as it may spit). Remove the crispy leaves with a slotted spoon and leave aside to dry on kitchen paper.
- To serve, separate out and place the lettuce leaves on a serving plate, scatter over the pork, pickled carrots, reserved spring onion and the crispy basil leaves. Drizzle with a little of the carrots’ pickling liquid and serve immediately.
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