Fragrant oriental-style loin of pork with colorful vegetables and whole grain rice

Beautiful mixed vegetables

The idea for this recipe came from an acquaintance of mine, who is an ultrasound machine salesman here in south Sweden. The rheumatology clinic, were I work in Lund, recently acquired new ultrasound devices giving a whole new spectrum to our diagnostics ... anyways... get back to the point! He came for a visit to help us install the machines and guide us through their functions but our discussion soon changed to a topic that we both found really interesting - scrumptious food!

He appeared to be a rather keen cook himself and a great believer in the simplicity of recipes. He shared with me some good ideas - many of which included cream but the drawback was that he seemed to use an awful lot if it. Like I said, he suggested a couple of recipes - but this one lingered with me. I changed it a little bit, considerably reduced the amount of cream, added more vegetables and reduced the quantity of meat he had suggested - replacing it with more, you guessed it ... colourful vegetables.

I apologise for calling this an "oriental style" dish! Just because I added some soy, it doesn't make it oriental - soy sauce nowadays is just like any other spice in our store cupboard. The title just sounded more profound and appetising with this attached to the whole thing!

Fragrant oriental style loin of pork with colourful vegetables and whole grain rice

Everything has been sliced down - ready for the pan!

I had quite a collections of colourful vegetables. I sliced down three types of peppers; red, yellow and orange (I would have included a green pepper but my wife has a great dislike for green pepper - go figure?), half a green zucchini, one red onion, three spring onions, one red chilli and three gloves of garlic and also some chives. 

Good quality loin of pork

I had bought some loin of pork. Swedes produce good pork. Regulations in Sweden regarding keeping of animals are much stricter than in other European countries and the animals here are treated better. I think it is extremely important that we try to purchase meat from producers that have provided their animals with a decent life and treated them well. 

Anyways, I cut the loin down into thin slices, 5 mm. Seasoned with salt and mixed freshly ground pepper. Then fried in some oil, just to close the outside and then put to the side. 

Vegetables on the fire

Next step was to fry the garlic, chilli and red onions for a few minutes until soft and shining. Be careful not to brown. Then add the peppers, zucchini and the stems of the spring onions (saving the tops for decorations) and fry until soft. Season to taste. Add 2 teaspoons of chopped chives. 

The chives are cut down finely

After having fried the vegetables for a few minutes I added the meat with all its juices and warmed through. Added 200 ml of warm veal stock (just made from store bought liquid stock), 150 ml of light cream (12% cooking cream) and 4-5 tablespoons of Kikkoman soy souce. Stirred gently together to let the flavour infuse and warmed to a mild simmer. Seasoned to taste, and I also added 1 teaspoon of sugar, just to balance the whole thing. 

The dish is garnished with some more chives and the chooped spring onions

Served with some whole grain rice. Garnished with more chopped chives and the tops of the spring onions.

We enjoyed a glass of white wine with our meal. I had some Lindemans Chardonnay. This is a lovely bag-in-box to have in the fridge. Nice lemony colour. Fruity on the palate, apple?, and a buttery note that is often associated with Chardonnays. Lovely sip of wine!

I highly recommend this recipe - it was absolutely delicious. 

Served with some wholegrain rice

Lets eat, drink and be merry - Bon appetit!

ps. If you like what you read on my blog I would be very thankful if you would like/share it! Thx, Ragnar