(Minty’s Kitchen) Pork with green beans in XO sauce

4 portions. Maximum cost: £15,

Skill level: Easy,

Total cooking time: 25 minutes,

Prep time: 10 minutes,
Cooking time: 15 minutes,

Equipment used: 1 wok (or large frying pan), 1 bowl (to blanch the beans), 1 mixing bowl (to marinate the mince), 1 large saucepan with lid, colander,

Original recipe: Minty’s Kitchen: Fried green beans with minced pork and XO sauce

I’ve multiplied the ingredients in the original recipe by 4 to make portions (this listed 100g of pork mince, which I’ve taken to be per person, and increased the quantities of marinade accordingly)

When I first made this, I left out a couple of key ingredients; specifically the dried shrimp and the chilli oil as I didn’t have either in the house. Instead, I relied on the XO sauce to make up for any absence in flavour. Without these, the end dish was still great – with these it is simply amazing.

If you haven’t tried XO sauce before, do. It doesn’t come cheap (The Lee Kum Kee version costs £10 per jar – my local Chinese Supermarket actually keeps this and other brands behind the till so others may potentially be even more expensive). Despite the cost, you only need a small amount to transfer some simple fried rice into an amazing meal.

To prep:

(Original recipe in bold font)

Marinate 400g minced pork and set aside. (I tend to do this the day before with a much larger volume of pork. If I have too much pork, I’ll pop the excess in the freezer before cooking, and use it in other pork dishes such as stuffed red peppers or stuffed pasta shells)

Wash 1 packet (300g) of green beans and dry thoroughly with kitchen towel before cutting into lengths of about 3 cm long.

To cook:

Start with the rice – add 600ml of water to a pan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add 300ml of jasmine rice, pop on a lid and reduce the heat to low. When the 10 minutes is up, take the pan off the heat, but leave the rice with the lid on for a further 10 minutes to steam. After this time, fluff up the rice and serve – You can leave the rice for longer if needed, it won’t go cold.

Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a wok (the oil should barely cover the beans) and fry the beans in batches over medium-high heat, until they become wrinkly and slightly brown. Quickly transfer beans into the bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process. Drain beans in a colander and set aside.

Using the same wok, sauté 6 cloves of minced garlic, diced small white onion or 4 diced shallots and 4 tbsp of dried shrimps (optional) until fragrant. Add in minced pork and tsp of XO sauce (I usually use half the jar) and 4 tsp of chilli oil (optional) Stir well.

Once the pork is cooked, turn up the heat. Add in the green beans and season to taste. Give a few quick toss and turn off the heat. Do not over cook the beans.

Serve with and Chinese broccoli and shitake mushrooms cooked in oyster sauce

Ingredients:

1 packet of green beans (£1.25 for 300g)
400g minced pork (£3 for 450g)
4 tbsp dried shrimps, washed – you can get away with leaving these out if needs be
6 cloves garlic (50p for bulb)
1 small white onion (17p) (the original recipe stated to use 4 shallots)

Marinade for meat: