A spot of camping

For the first time ever, we took our children camping.  Friends of ours have a lovely property near Korumburra.  It was perfect as I could still have a shower and sleep in a bed while the children slept in the tent with Daddy.  They had a ball playing with the puppy, patting the chickens, caring for the ponies, helping build the fire, find the perfect marshmallow sticks - oh and toasting sticks, which you know need 'three prongs not two or four!'.  I think my children are learning to be pedantic like their Mummy!  They listened hard for signs the local giant earthworms were about, to no avail sadly.

'Chook-chook', well what other name would she have?  This darling old chicken, hung around us ready and waiting to take a bit of crust or salad whenever we needed her - she gave the puppy a run for her money!
At night the kidlets tried to name the different frogs we could hear croaking, spot koalas (no success) or possums (multiple successes) in the trees.  The weather was perfect.  On our last day we took a ride on the tourist train.  This was a special highlight for Master Three who's a huge train fan like his Pa.  What has this to do with cooking?  Not a lot.  But I have a recipe without images.  The only photo I took of food was of a platter of ice cream toppings which the children insisted was too beautiful NOT to photograph:

Is camping supposed to be about 'roughing it' or 'indulging it'?  Our three were happy to go with a little from column 'A' and plenty from column 'B'!

I wasn't in 'food blogger' mode, but today, I am thinking that this recipe should be recorded.  The friends we were visiting only made one request, that was to cook a pork dish I had cooked a decade earlier!  Initially I was completely blank as to which recipe this was.  My friend assured me that it was delicious and that she never eats pork, but if I made this recipe, she would love it.  After much investigating, I found the recipe she spoke of.  It helped that The Lovely Man remembered the dish too (pork is his favourite meat).  So, I bring you the recipe so memorable to apparently everyone but me, but upon tasting, I am sure I will be making it again soon.

Making breakfast; the three-pronged stick was an essential for perfect toast.
Before I start, I will mention, this calls for a bottled sauce.  I find the best flavour is found in Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce (Chinese BBQ sauce).  It is very salty (so please, avoid adding salt to the recipe if you try it) but it is by far, the best version of this sauce in my opinion.

Cha Siu Pork

2 fillets of pork (weight will be around 600g or 700g)
2 tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 tsp microplaned ginger
3 cloves garlic microplaned
1 x 20ml tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 x 20ml tbsp soy sauce (salt-reduced soy works well here if you have it)
1/4 cup char siu sauce

Trim the pork fillets of all the sinew and slice finely. 

Combine all the other ingredients (except the oil) either in a snap-lock bag that will fit the pork or a shallow dish.

Add the pork to the marinade and leave for about half an hour.

Remove the pork from the marinade.

Heat a wok or BBQ plate to very hot, add the oil and fry the pork (in batches if in a wok) and cook until just cooked and brown.

Serve with a crispy salad or steamed greens.

Serves 6

In theory, leftovers are delicious in a flatbread with some cucumber and finely sliced spring onion.  I wrote this in my notes, so I am not sure if we have ever HAD leftovers to give this a go.

It goes without saying for me, that the recipe needs to be made with sweet female pork.  I am pretty confident that my friend has the same dislike of boar-taint that I do, and that is why she thinks she wont eat pork.  She's eaten this recipe made by me - someone who only uses female pork, so she just thinks it's the recipe not the meat that is working for her.  The aromatic, sweet and salty marinade certainly helps, it's yummy, and the only reason I stopped making it is because I keep finding new recipes to try.  If you don't like or eat pork, or can't be confident you can find female pork, you could use chicken thigh fillets for this recipe.

Finding out just how much work it would be to care for a pony.

The children got to see the view from the front of the train, and find out that it's a very wobbly place to be - oh and loud thanks to the train horn being 'right there'!

Somewhat of a rest day today for the children.  The Lovely Man is back at work, as am I washing a heap of clothing and an Esky.  Everything we took smells of smoke which has lost it's charm for me.  Still, the memories will override that in no time I'm sure.  If nothing else, perhaps I will now remember this pork recipe.