Tinoransak is a hot and fragrant Indonesian dish from Sulawesi. It is very simple, using the flavours of green chillies, lemongrass and lime leaves. If you can’t find Thai basil, then use the usual type, which will taste different but still be delicious! Placing the meat in the freezer for an hour before slicing will help to achieve the desired very thin slices serves 4

700g pork fillet, very thinly sliced (see above)
3-4 kaffir lime leaves, preferably fresh but dried will do!
a big handful of Thai basil leaves, stripped from the woody stems and torn into pieces
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 stalks lemongrass, chopped into 2-3 pieces and bashed to release the flavours, or VERY finely chopped
12-15 small green chillies, de-stalked
1 onion or 3 shallots, peeled and quartered
1 head garlic, peeled
50g piece galangal or ginger, peeled and chopped
juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp soy sauce, plus more to serve

Place the oil, chillies, onion, garlic and galangal/ginger in a blender and pulse until blended but not smooth.
Heat a large pan and fry the above mixture with the lemongrass until fragrant and cooked through - about 15 minutes. Remove from the pan.
Add the pork with a little more oil if necessary and and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the lime leaves, 150ml water and the paste and lemongrass mixture. Bring to the boil then simmer for about 20 minutes, until the pork is tender.
Add pepper, soy sauce and lime juice to taste. Add a little more water if you want more sauce, but it is supposed to be quite dry and very intensely flavoured.
Stir in the basil leaves and serve with rice and a splash of soy sauce.

Cook’s notes

If you have some of our south east Asian secret sauce in the freezer you can use this instead! Follow from no:2 above, adding the chillies, finely chopped, with the lemongrass. Do not add the water in no:3.