Pork With Hard-Boiled Eggs Stew

Autumn is here....I can now feel it!

Although the weather can be quite hot, particularly at mid-day, there is less humidity and it gets cooler in the morning and evening. I like this season: this is my favourite!

This is the time to enjoy chestnuts from the street hawkers. At this time of the year I know my parents (in France) are roasting chestnuts at home and eating them in a soup plate filled with hot milk and a tad of sugar. My Dad loves sweet treats and chestnuts are never sweet enough for him. 

It is also the time for hearty meals. I no longer feel being in a sauna when I am in my kitchen but feel like baking (I already posted my sourdough bread tribulations), making stews and experimenting with bôu-jái-faahn (or little rice pots) recipes (not yet posted). 

But first, before sharing my Pork and Hard-Boiled Eggs Stew recipe with you I would like to show you the pictures I took this afternoon.

Today the sky was quite clear  (unfortunately, it happens less and less often these days) and the sun was playing hide-and-seek with the clouds.  It was really beautiful!  I opened my bedroom window and suddenly I saw (look at the 2 photos below) something I had never seen before: there were two ranges of hills, one on top of the other, facing me. At first I thought it was strange, then I realised it was simply the reflection of the view of the real scene (on my right side) onto the windowpane which was appearing on top of the (real) mountains. 



View of Shatin and the Shing Mun River from Fotan



The outlines of the scenery on my right side
reflected on the window pane

Now let's come back to the topic of food and more particularly my recipe. I adapted my Mum's recipe to make it spicy and hot by replacing Herbes de Provence with chili and spices. I like food with spices and flavours! 

Ingredients: for 4 persons

o       500gr pork shank  

o       80gr pancetta  

o       Vegetable oil 

o       1/2 onion (sliced)

o       1 tomato (sliced)

o       1 stalk celery (diced)

o       ½  small carrot (diced)

o       2 bird (red) chilis

o       2-3 tbsp tomato purée

o       3 tbsp of red wine

o       100ml vegetable broth (100 ml of warm water mixed with 1/2 cube or home-made broth)

o       Spices: ½  tsp oregano, ½  tsp ground cumin, ½  tsp ground turmeric, salt & ground black pepper (to taste)

o       2 eggs – hard-boiled cut into 2 (lengthwise)

Steps:

1        Dice meat.

2        In a frying pan brown pancetta. Set aside.

3        Brown meat in batches (add oil if needed). Set aside

4        In same frying pan stir-fry onion, carrot, celery and red chili for a few minutes.

5        Transfer pancetta and meat in a large pot.  

6        Pour red wine. Stir well.

7        In a bowl mix broth with tomato purée and spices.

8        In the large pot add mixed vegetables, then the tomato slices, and then the broth mixed with tomato purée and spices

9        Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer with the lid on for about 1 hour. Check if meat is tender. Cook longer if needed until meat is tender.  Open lid if sauce is too liquid.

10    Cook eggs (hard-boiled)

11    Transfer stew onto a large dish. Garnish with ½ hard-boiled eggs

Pork with Hard-Boiled Egg Stew
served with brown steamed rice and stuffed fuzzy melon

The sauce is delicious with steamed rice. On the day I took the picture I served it with brown rice and fuzzy melon (same recipe as Kankana's stuffed mouse gourds recipe.)

PS: Kankana has a lot of delicous recipes please check her website!

Bon appétit!  I hope you will try my recipe. Let me know! :)