Believe it or not, there are some people who still have Garlic Pork that they made for the just-concluded holidays. I received several messages asking about ways to use up the remaining Garlic Pork. At the end of 2013, I shared this ‘recipe’ as one of the ways in which I used my Garlic Pork, and it is worth sharing again.
Now I have to explain to you how you’re going to go about cooking the Garlic Pork and plantains because it is beyond a recipe, in other words, it is more than the listing of ingredients with numbered instructions. You’ll start by cooking the Garlic Pork, then cutting it into small pieces and frying it in a little oil until it becomes crisp. You want to cook some of the fatty parts of the pork so that it can really add moisture to the dish and crisp up well; it is like making bacon bits, only this is even better and full of garlic flavour. You’ll need green plantains. Oh, and you need to use a mortar and pestle or something that you can pound with. If you have a lorha and sil, that would work too.
To combine the two ingredients, you are going to pound some of the Garlic Pork to a paste, then add the hot fried plantains and keep pounding to smash the plantains and mix the two ingredients. Another option for the Garlic Pork is to put it in a food processer and pulse until it is shredded. You will then sprinkle some of the Garlic Pork bits that you reserved along with some thinly sliced green onions on top. You have to serve it hot.
Okay, you ready for the “recipe”?
INGREDIENTS
Garlic Pork Oil
Green plantains
Salt and pepper to taste
Thinly sliced green onions/scallions
DIRECTIONS
Remove the Garlic Pork from the pickling liquid and shake off the excess liquid.
Heat a frying pan with oil just to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook the Garlic Pork until cooked through and browned. Remove from the pan and let cool until you can handle it. Cut the pork into tiny pieces.
Heat the pan again, the one in which you cooked the Garlic Pork. If necessary, drizzle in a little more oil. Working in batches if necessary, cook the Garlic pork until browned and crispy.
Reserve a handful or a little more of the fried Garlic Pork bits to garnish. Set aside.
Add the rest of the garlic pork to a mortar and using the pestle, pound it to almost a paste or add the garlic pork to a food processor and pulse it until it is finely shredded. Set aside.
Working with the same pan in which you cooked the Garlic Pork, add enough oil to fry the green plantains.
While the oil is heating, peel the plantains, cut them in half crossways, then in half lengthways and again in half lengthways. Think of wedge-like thick-cut fries. Each plantain should give you 8 pieces.
This next stage you are going to do in batches – put some of the shredded pork into the mortar, fry some of the plantains and when it is cooked, transfer it directly to the mortar, season with salt and pepper to taste and pound the plantains with the Garlic Pork. Repeat until all the shredded Garlic Pork is used up as well as the plantains. If you are using a lorha and sil, grind or pound the shredded pork and cooked plantains, together.
To serve, add portions of the plantain mixture to small bowls, sprinkle with Garlic Pork bits and scallions/green onions. Serve hot.
NOTE
There is nothing exacting about this dish, add as much or as little Garlic Pork as you like.
