White pepper broth and pork terrine with glass vermicelli

"A simple and restorative noodle soup typical of weekday meals I grew up with. I once made the pork terrine with layered, blanched cabbage leaves because I had no banana leaves at the time and it worked very well - just make sure you remove the stalky parts and secure the parcel well with kitchen string." Poh Ling Yeow, Poh & Co. 2

• serves

  8

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  1:20 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg pork ribs, cut into individual ribs
• 2 L water
• ⅓ cup white peppercorns, wrapped in muslin, tied with kitchen string and lightly crushed
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste
• 200 g glass vermicelli
• 2 cup coriander stems, well rinsed

Pork terrine

• 2 tsp sea salt flakes
• 500 g minced pork
• 1½ tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 frozen banana leaves, softened (see Note)

Instructions

Place the pork ribs, water and peppercorns in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 1 hour or until reduced by one-third and the pork meat is falling off the bone.

To make the pork terrine, toast the salt in a frying pan over high heat for 30 seconds. Pulse the minced pork, salt, fish sauce and sugar in a food processor until it forms a very sticky paste and pulse until completely smooth. Shape into a fat sausage and roll it up in a softened banana leaf. Place on the second banana leaf, making sure the veins of the second layer of banana leaf run in the opposite direction to the first layer, then secure with kitchen string along the length of the terrine. Place in a saucepan of boiling water and boil for 1 hour.

To serve, cook the vermicelli in a saucepan of boiling water until tender. Drain and immediately divide evenly among soup bowls. Unwrap the pork terrine, discard the banana leaves, then thinly slice. Pop a few ribs and a few slices of terrine in each soup bowl. Wilt the coriander in the broth. Divide the coriander and broth among the bowls and serve hot.

Note

• Banana leaves are available from Asian food shops and selected greengrocers.

 

Photography, styling and food preparation by china squirrel.

Poh & Co. 2 Thursdays at 8.30pm on SBS.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.