TBK cooks- 4 easy Baboy ( Pork ) recipes

The first recipe I tried was Pork with Butter Beans. Its a one pot low GI stew with marinated pork steaks on the top and it was masarap ( delicious!)

If you have not heard of Low GI foods let me explain:

"The glycemic index (GI) is a measurement system that ranks foods according to their effect on your blood sugar levels. It was created in the early 1980s by Dr. David Jenkins, a Canadian professor.

The rates at which different foods raise blood sugar levels are ranked in comparison with the absorption of 50 grams of pure glucose. Pure glucose is used as a reference food and has a GI value of 100.

The three GI ratings are:

Low: 55 or fewer
Medium: 56–69
High: 70 or more

Foods with a low GI value are the preferred choice. They’re slowly digested and absorbed, causing a slower and smaller rise in blood sugar levels.

On the other hand, foods with a high GI value should be limited. They’re quickly digested and absorbed, resulting in a rapid rise and fall of blood sugar levels."

Source : https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/low-glycemic-diet#the-glycemic-index-gi ( accessed 9.3.22)

The Ingredients - from BBC Good Food Magazine

As usual I got everything ready before I started (mis en place as Chef Coco taught me!) and washed the vegetables and the pork steaks. I marinated the pork steaks in the crushed garlic, paprika and 1 tablespoon of the oil and then fried them on both sides for 4 mins on each side until they were brown. I then removed the pork steaks and added another tablespoon of the oil.

Frying the marinated pork chops - 4 mins each side

Next I added the onions , carrots and sliced garlic stirring for 10 mins. Once the vegetables start to caramelize add the two tablespoons of sherry vinegar ( I used balsamic) and allowed it to sizzle before adding the deseeded and chopped red peppers ( Capsicum for my Kabayan) and the bouillon mixed with boiling water ( 500 ml total) , chopped rosemary leaves, 200 g whole cherry tomatoes and the 2 tablespoons of tomato puree. Give it a good stir then add two 400 g cans of butter beans ( drained and rinsed)

It should look like this now, so add the pork steaks on top

Add the pork steaks and cook for 20 mins with the lid on so the pork becomes juicy and the vegetables tender. Remove the pork, add the 10 g chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice and serve.

The finished dish, sarap!

For those of you who are missing the TBK Cooks vlogs here is a little snippet of me adding the lemon juice to this dish:

Sadly I do not have a video of the tasting , but it was sarap!

My Pork Chops and Mustardy butter beans

Next up was Pork chops with mustardy butter beans. This serves 2, takes 10 minutes to prepare and 30 mins to cook. Again the butter beans have a low GI and Pork is recommended for Intermittent fasting.

For 2 portions you will need:

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of Olive oil

1 onion, finely sliced

1 small garlic clove, crushed

400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed

100 ml chicken stock

200 g spinach

3 tablespoons of Crème fraiche

Half a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard

2 pork chops

Method ( or procedure for my Kabayan)

Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a saucepan and add the sliced onions and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the crushed garlic and fry for another minute. Stir through the butter beans and stock and bring to a simmer before adding the spinach. Cover and cook for 3 mons until the spinach has wilted.

I travelled all the way to Amwaj Alosra to get the spinach as I heard my favourite Pinoy guy, Mark, was now working there. He was happy to see me and told me he was about to go on 2 months vacation to the Philippines so I will be gone by the time he gets back. If you are reading this , Mark, thanks for always getting me the freshest fruit and veg for TBK cooks. The spinach for this recipe is a good example. He saw the spinach on display was not fresh and so went out back to get me two fresh bunches. Thanks Mark!

Finally you blitz the mixture ( with a food processor ideally , but as one of mine is in Palawan and Jeboy has the other in Dubai , I used a Potato masher!) but leave some of the butter beans whole. Next stir in the wholegrain mustard and the crème fraiche and season, then simmer for 3 mins and set aside.

Season the pork chops on both sides, heat the second tablespoon of oil on a medium-high heat in a frying pan and using tongs brown the pork steak on the edges. Then cook for 7 mins on each side or until cooked.

To serve place the beans in a bowl, slice the pork , and serve as above.

The Tasting - I had the two pork and butter beans on consecutive days and the taste of the mustardy butter beans is very different- sweet and creamy with some bite from the wholegrain mustard. Again the dish is healthy (610 calories, only 37g fat) and low GI so it will keep you feeling full for a long time. Enjoy!

My third pork dish of the month was Sweet and sour Pork served with Basmati rice. You will see that I got a bargain on the SuperValu Basmati rice from Alosra as it was near the best before date and was reduced to 50% off!

The sauce and the pineapples, this is so easy to make!

And this is what it looks like......

I hope you have enjoyed my three Baboy recipes which I made last week. Some time ago I recorded a fourth on Video for you. It was for Baboy with Garlicky broccoli. I made it when I returned to Bahrain from Oman in October and sent it to TJ to edit. When she still had not edited it in February after 4 months I had her send it to Chester who has edited it this week and posted it to my you tube channel. You can see it by clicking on the image below and if it is your first visit to my channel please like and subscribe.