Mah Haw

Mah Haw


1. First, make the pesto by: Using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, crush or grind the peppercorns into a fine powder.

2. Combine the pepper, cilantro and garlic and work into a fairly smooth paste in the mortar or in a small blender or food processor.

3. If you opt to use a blender or food processor, you may need to add a little vegetable oil or water to ease the grinding.

4. To keep the pesto for later use, put it in a glass jar, pour a little oil on top to cover it and seal tightly.

5. Heat a wok or medium skillet over medium heat.

6. Add the oil, and swirl to coat the surface of the pan.

7. When oil is hot, add the Cilantro Pesto.

8. Stir-fry the pesto until quite fragrant, about 2 minutes.

9. Increase heat to medium high and crumble in the ground pork.

10. Stir-fry the pork until it breaks up into small lumps, renders some of its fat, and is no longer pink, approzimately 2 minutes.

11. Add the fish sauce and sugar and continue cooking, stirring and scraping often to brown and coat the meat evenly.

12. After approximately 4 minutes, when the meat is nicely browned, remove the pan from the heat and taste the sauce for a pleasantly salty-sweet balance.

13. If needed add more fish sauce and/or sugar and return pan to heat in order to reduce the additions.

14. Remove from the heat, transfer to a medium bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.

15. Peel the pineapple and cut crosswise into 1/4 inch-thick slices.

16. Remove the hard core from the center of each slice and cut into 1-inch squares.

17. You should have about 2 cups of squares.

18. To serve, mound a spoonful of savory pork onto pineapple square.

19. Garnish each mound with pepper strips and cilantro leaves.

20. Transfer to a platter and serve at room temperature as a finger food.

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Nutrition

Ingredients