Vietnamese pork and pineapple stir fry (muc xao khom)
Salty, tangy and sweet. Meaty but bursting with fruit and vegetables. This simple stir fry has so much nuance that’s hard to resist.
Servings 2 people
Ingredients
- 300 to 400 grams pork loin (10.5 to 14 oz) thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons sugar divided
- 2 to 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 onion peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 bell pepper deseeded and roughly chopped
- 1 large and plump tomato cut into quarters or eighths
- 1 stalk celery finely sliced (save the leaves for garnish)
- 3 stalks onion leaves roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
Instructions
- Place the pork in a bowl. Add half of the sugar, fish sauce and black pepper. Mix well, working the seasonings into the meat. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least two hours.
- Mix together the remaining sugar, starch, vinegar and lemon juice for the sauce.
- Heat two tablespoons cooking oil in a wok or frying pan.
- Add the pork and stir fry until the meat changes color.
- Add the garlic and continue stir frying until the edges of the pork start to brown lightly.
- Scoop out the pork and keep warm.
- Add the remaining cooking oil to the wok and heat. Stir fry the onion, celery, bell pepper and tomato.
- Return the pork back into the wok.
- Add the pineapple chunks.
- Pour in the sauce.
- Cook, stirring often, just until the sauce thickens.
- Transfer the stir fried dish to a platter. Garnish with onion leaves and the celery leaves (and cilantro, if you like).
- Serve your Vietnamese pork and pineapple stir fry with hot rice.
