Sydney based food blogger Nagi Maehashi took centre stage in this episode of MasterChef Australia – setting the contestants the challenge of creating a tasty dish in just 30 minutes. If you’re familiar with Nagi’s blog, Recipe Tin Eats, and have used her recipes, then you will have already delighted in her fail-safe and simple to create crowd pleasing dishes.
This recipe for Spicy Pork Scissor Cut Noodles best fulfilled Nagi’s brief and proved to be a cut above the rest, keeping its creator safe for another day!
Spicy Pork Scissor Cut Noodles
Ingredients: (Serves 3-4)
Scissor Cut Noodles
- 250g plain flour
- 4g salt
- 125g water
Coriander and Peanut Gremolata
- 3 tbsp peanuts
- 1/3 cup coriander leaves
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- lime zest and extra virgin olive oil, to serve
Spicy Pork
- 5 shallots
- 7 cloves of garlic
- 10g ginger
- 5 anchovies
- 5 Thai red chilis
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 400g pork mince
- 50g unsalted butter
- 150ml Shaoxing wine
- 325g passata
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 5g white pepper
- 2 tbsp lime juice
Method:
1. For the Scissor Cut Noodles, whisk flour and salt together then combine water into the dry mixture. Use a fork to disperse the liquid and evenly hydrate dough. When shaggy pieces form, use your hands to combine and knead to form a single mass of dough. Add a little more water if necessary, however dough should not be sticky. Leave to rest for 20 minutes. Meanwhile bring a large pot of water in a medium saucepan to a gentle simmer.
2. For the Spicy Pork, place shallots, garlic, ginger, anchovies, and chilies into a small food processor and puree until a paste is formed. Sear the aromatic paste in a small saucepan on a medium heat until all the moisture has evaporated, and it begins to brown.
3. Meanwhile, add oil to a medium saucepan on a medium heat. Add the pork and brown thoroughly across the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the butter to the ground pork and stir to release the meat. Use a wooden spoon to break down any larger pieces of pork until a crumb is formed. Deglaze the pan with Shaoxing wine and boil until the alcohol is cooked off and the liquid in the pan is reduced to a tablespoon.
5. When the aromatic paste is cooked, set aside in a small bowl and add the passata, light and dark soy sauce, sugar, and pepper to the pan. Cook for 5-7 minutes on a low-medium heat to reduce until a dark paste is formed.
6. To cook the noodles, flatten the ball of dough into a disc. Using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut off 5mm widths of dough off the edge of the disc straight into the pot of boiling water. Rotate around the circumference of the disc for rapid extrusion of noodles. Working in batches, allow the noodles to cook for 5 minutes before draining through a sieve into an oiled bowl. Repeat with remaining dough. Reserve the noodle cooking liquid for the spicy pork sauce.
7. When the passata paste has reduced, add to the mince with the aromatic paste, lime juice and 150ml of the noodle cooking liquid. Stir to combine. Reduce the sauce until it just begins to coat the back of a spoon. If the sauce thickens too much, use more of the reserved noodle cooking liquid to loosen. Add the scissor cut noodles with the pork and toss to coat.
8. For the Coriander and Peanut Gremolata, lightly toast the peanuts in a small frypan. Remove and chop finely.
9. Roughly chop the coriander leaves then combine with peanuts and lime juice.
10. To serve, divide the pork and noodles onto plates, then top with lime zest, 1-2 tablespoons of gremolata and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Looking for more MasterChef recipe inspiration? Visit our blog for more MasterChef Australia recipes. And if you would like to find out more about biomethane or hydrogen on the set of MasterChef Australia click here .
