Steffen's Dinners - Recipes and Photos

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This recipe is inspired by the flavors of Thai cuisine. A pork tenderloin is stuffed with fresh cilantro and a puree of mild chili pepper, bell pepper, ginger, garlic, cilantro and lemon grass and cooked in coconut milk and more of the puree.

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin
• 4 stalks of lemon grass
• 4 pasilla chilis
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2½ oz / 75g fresh ginger, peeled
• 12 garlic cloves
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• ½ bunch of cilantro, finely chopped, retain a few leaves as garnish
• 1 medium red onion
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 can 13.5 fl oz / 400ml coconut milk
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Preparation

1. Core pasilla chilis and bell peppers. Peel garlic and onion. Peel off outer layer from lemon grass, trim off base and top third. Remove stems from 1 bunch of cilantro.
2. In a food processor blend together chilis, bell peppers, onion, garlic, lemon grass, cilantro and ginger. Blend in salt and oil.
3. Set a heavy saucepan over low-medium heat and cook the vegetable puree until smooth and soft, ca. 40-50 minutes. Cover, but stir frequently. At the end, stir in the sugar.
4. In the meanwhile prepare the tenderloin. With a sharp knife cut lengthwise so that the tenderloin "unrolls" in a spiral, resulting in a sheet of meat. Pound the meat lightly if necessary to equalize thickness.
5. When the puree is done, set a sauté pan over medium heat and bring the coconut milk to a boil. Stir in 1 ½ cups / 350 ml of the cooked vegetable puree. Reduce heat and simmer while you stuff the tenderloin.
6. Cover the flattened tenderloin with some of the remaining puree and the chopped cilantro and roll it up carefully. Secure with a skewer.
7. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and sear the tenderloin over high heat until nicely browned from all sides
8. Transfer the tenderloin to the pan with the coconut milk and vegetable puree mixture. Cover and simmer over low heat until the meat is almost firm to the touch, ca. 10-15 minutes. Remove, wrap in aluminum foil and let rest for ca. 10 minutes.
9. Adjust seasoning of sauce with salt.
10. Cut tenderloin into thick slices, serve with sauce and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Notes

• Serve with fried potatoes (as in my photo) or Jasmine rice.
• You can cook the puree in a pressure cooker: 15min at high pressure is about right.
• The idea for the stuffing was inspired by a "chili jam" in

Preparation time 1-2 hours

Yields 3-4 servings