#ginger paste

Making this fragrant and tasty Pork Belly and Pak Choi Noodle Soup for dinner may take a bit a time, but it's well-worth the effort, I can assure you! Happy Saturday!

Ingredients (serves 3):

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 heaped tablespoon Ginger Paste 

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons Hot Pepper Sauce 

½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 heaped tablespoon pure honey

½ cup water

1 ½ tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger

a large garlic clove, minced

half a red Garden Chilli 

2 beautiful pak choi

3 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

1 tablespoon Nuoc mam (fish sauce)

5 cups water

90 grams/3 ounces large rice noodles

1 tablespoon demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 200°C/395°F.

Using a sharp knife, remove the thick pig skin from the pork belly, so you are left with a layer of fat. With the knife, score the fat in a criss-cross manner.

Combine minced garlic, Ginger Paste, soy sauce, Hot Pepper Sauce and black pepper in a small bowl. Stir in sesame oil and honey until well-blended. Generously rub ginger and soy mixture all over the pork belly.

Sit pork belly, fat-side up, into a roasting tin, and pour water at the bottom of the tin.

Place roasting tin into the hot oven, and roast, at 200°C/395°F, for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a large wok, heat toasted sesame oil over medium-high heat.

Peel ginger, and cut it into very thin slices. Add to the wok, and fry, a couple of minutes. Add garlic, and cook, 1 minute more. 

Thinly slice Garden Chilli, and stir into the wok. Cook, a couple of minutes.

Thoroughly rinse pak choi under cold water.

Cut off and discard the bottom of the pak choi, and cut off the leaves, reserving for later. Chop white part of the pak choi, and stir into the wok. Cook, coating in oil and spices, about 5 minutes.

Deglaze with soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and Nuoc Mam. Stir in water, and bring to the boil.

In a smaller pot, bring water to the boil.

Once boiling, stir in the rice noodles. Cook, 7 minutes.

Remove from the heat, drain the noodles, rinsing under cold water and plunge them in a bowl filled with ice water. Set aside.

Stir demerara sugar into the wok, until dissolved.

Finally, stir in reserved pak choi leaves, and cook until just wilted.

Once cool enough to handle, cut soy and ginger pork belly into thin slices.

Drain rice noodles and place a heap at the bottom of each of three shallow plates. Top with hot pak choi broth. Finally, scatter soy and ginger pork belly on top.

I wanted to ask if ginger paste can be as effectively made using Vaseline and dried ginger powder for a thicker coating. I’m finally going to fig my bottom with your finger paste recipe and wanted to see if a thicker base would work or just oil.

I've never tried ginger powder with Vaseline, so you'll have to experiment. Please let me know, or add a reply to this message!

In theory, it could work, but it depends how soluble the gingerol in the ginger powder is in Vaseline. Petroleum jelly is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons, whereas edible oils are liquid mixtures of fatty acids like Oleic acid. Liquid oils have much better solubility and miscibility than semi-solids.

Nothing bad will happen if you mix petroleum jelly with ginger powder, but there's a chance the powder will just be embedded within the jelly as a mushy paste. If the gingerol doesn't dissolve out, it will never come into contact with your intimate places, and so you won't feel its heat.

Spicy and comforting on a wet and grey day, this vibrant Chicken and Butternut Lentil Dahl will warm you up as you come home from a walk or a potter in the garden under a light drizzle!

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 tablespoons ghee

1/2 large onion

1/2 red Bell Pepper

2 teaspoons Garam Masala

1 teaspoon ground tumeric

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 large garlic clove, minced

¾ teaspoon Red Chili Flakes 

2 heaped teaspoons Ginger Paste

4 chicken drumsticks

1 thick slice of a lare butternut squash

1/3 cup split red lentils

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 cup coconut milk

2 cups water

Melt ghee in a large pot or Dutch oven, over medium heat.

Peel and thinly slice onion. Add to the Dutch oven, and cook, stirring often until softened, about 3 minutes.

Seed and chop Bell Pepper. Increase heat to medium-high, and stir chopped Bell Pepper into the Dutch oven. Cook, a couple of minutes.

Add Garam Masala, ground tumeric and cumin seeds, and fry, one minute more.

Stir in garlic and Red Chili Flakes. Cook, another minute. Then, stir in Ginger Paste.

Add chicken drumsticks, and cook, to brown on all sides.

Peel and cube butternut squash. Add to the Dutch oven, along with red lentils, stirring well to coat in ghee and spices. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Then, stir in coconut milk and water. Bring to the boil.

Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low, cover with the lid, and simmer, 25 minutes.