Connie’s notes
Wherever did the idea come from? Heat. Summer heat. It’s summer in the tropics and the heat is punishing. My family is not in the mood for heavy meals that include rice. Mostly, they want something they can pick up with their hands and not bother with setting up the table and dealing with the clean-up afterwards.
I considered all that when deciding what to do with leftover cooked pork that had been sitting in the fridge for two days. Tortilla wraps seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The pork won’t go into oblivion in the fridge and, at the same time, we’d have a filling meal that wouldn’t require spoons, forks and knives.
How much cooking oil you need depends on how fatty the pork is. You need enough to allow the pulled pork to fry in. Start with two tablespoons if the pork has enough fat to render. If using lean pork, you may have to double the amount.
To prevent the roll-ups from turning greasy and soggy, drain the cooked pulled pork adobo and allow excess oil to drip before using as filling. Because I wanted to lighten the meat filling, I topped the adobo with pickled vegetables. The pickled carrot and radish is a Vietnamese condiment that usually goes into a Saigon-style banh mi. We often keep a jar of the stuff in the fridge, homemade of course, because we make banh mi quite often. The pickled cucumber is something my younger daughter prepared at the request of her father. We harvested cucumbers recently and pickling was the best way to preserve them. How many tortillas you can fill depends on how small or large they are. Ten-inch tortillas were used here and I was able to stuff five of them. Very generous amount of pulled pork adobo went into each one. If your tortillas are six-inches in diameter, it will be very difficult to fold them sides before rolling them up. You might want to make tacos instead of wraps.
To prevent the roll-ups from turning greasy and soggy, drain the cooked pulled pork adobo and allow excess oil to drip before using as filling. Because I wanted to lighten the meat filling, I topped the adobo with pickled vegetables. The pickled carrot and radish is a Vietnamese condiment that usually goes into a Saigon-style banh mi. We often keep a jar of the stuff in the fridge, homemade of course, because we make banh mi quite often. The pickled cucumber is something my younger daughter prepared at the request of her father. We harvested cucumbers recently and pickling was the best way to preserve them. How many tortillas you can fill depends on how small or large they are. Ten-inch tortillas were used here and I was able to stuff five of them. Very generous amount of pulled pork adobo went into each one. If your tortillas are six-inches in diameter, it will be very difficult to fold them sides before rolling them up. You might want to make tacos instead of wraps.
Ingredients
Pulled pork adobo
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil you may need more
- 2 shallots peeled and thinly sliced
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 cups pulled cooked pork
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tablespoons vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- salt optional
Wraps
- 5 10-inch flour tortillas
- pickled vegetables store bought is okay
- thinly sliced scallions optional
Instructions
Cook the pulled pork adobo
- Heat the cooking oil and saute the shallots and garlic until aromatic.
- Add the pulled pork and stir until every strand is coated with oil.
- Add the pepper, bay leaf, vinegar and soy sauce.
- Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the liquids have been soaked up by the meat and the pork has fried in the oil.
- Taste and stir in salt, if needed.
Assemble the wraps
- Warm the tortillas.
- Lay a tortilla flat and spoon two to three tablespoons of pulled pork adobo across the middle.
- Top with pickled vegetables.
- Fold in the sides then roll to seal the fillings.
- Optionally, cut into halves crosswise and sprinkle with sliced scallions before serving.
Welsh cawl
