Jono & Jules do food & wine

It’s Chinese New Year tomorrow so we thought we’d post some dinner inspiration for the year of the tiger. This is a good crowd-pleaser and definitely better than take-away. It’s simple too, just prep everything before you get your wok on.

Wine Suggestion: an umami laden southern-French red, like the schist laden Domaine Cébène Faugères à la Venvole. Textural and velvety Grenache with hints of Syrah plums and gravelly Carignan; loads of flavour but not too much weight.

Pork chow mein – serves 4

• 500g pork fillet
• 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 200g dried medium egg noodles
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 4 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin or dry sherry
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced
• 1 large carrot, cut into very thin strips
• 25g fresh ginger, peeled and very finely sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, very thinly sliced
• 6 scallions, sliced
• 50g frozen peas
• 225g tin water chestnuts, drained and sliced

Trim any fat and sinew off the pork, then cut in half lengthways and cut into thin slices. Put into a bowl and add the five-spice powder, ½ tsp sea salt and black pepper, then set aside.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the noodles acording to the pack instructions, then drain and rinse in a sieve under running water until cold, then toss with a 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and set aside.

Mix the sugar and cornflour together in a bowl and gradually stir in the soy sauce, mirin and 100ml water, then set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok. Add the pork and stir-fry over a high heat for 2 minutes or until browned. Scoop out and set aside.

Add another tbsp of oil and stir-fry the pepper and carrot for 2 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, scallions, peas and water chestnuts and stir-fry for 2 minutes more until just softened, then scoop out onto a plate.

Pour the last tbsp of oil into the wok and add the noodles. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or until some have turned crispy and brown. Add the meat and veg back into the work and toss everything together for 1-2 minutes, or until well mixed and hot.

Stir the soy and mirin mixture again and pour it into the pan. Continue tossing for 1-2 minutes or until hot and glossy. Serve straightaway.

(Original recipe from The Hairy Bikers’ Meat Feasts by Si King and Dave Myers, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015.)