This is a tried and tested recipe that has been modified several times to accommodate our kids. This recipe is inspired by a very popular dish from Bhutan called Phaksha Paa basically meaning Pork. It is originally made with dried pork, lots of dried red chillies, daikon and local vegetables. My wife was born in Bhutan so growing up this was pretty much a staple dish.
In this recipe we won’t be adding any chilies as we will be making this kid-friendly. The best pork we found to use for this particular dish is the split pork ribs. It has some nice fat and bones on it that adds some juiciness and flavor to the dish without making it too fatty. For the vegetable we like to use the mustard green (sher li hon) that we usually pick up from superstore. You can also use baby bok choy as a vegetable option.
This is one of Raiden’s all time favorite foods. It is also one of the few green vegetables he doesn’t mind. The mustard green becomes very soft and easy to chew for him. This is a super easy one pot dish that you can cook for a weeknight meal. To be served on warm jasmine rice. ENJOY 🙂
Ingredients
600g split pork ribs
2 tomatoes
3-4 slice of ginger
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 cup of water
1 tsp paprika
1 daikon (optional)
4-5 Sher-li-hon (Mustard green)
Directions
1. In a pressure cooker, drizzle in some vegetable oil and turn the heat to medium. You can also cook this in an Instant Pot
2. Add in the pork ribs and sear the meat. (Instant pot sear the meat in Sauté mode)
3. Add roughly chopped tomatoes, sliced ginger, paprika and salt into the pot.
4. Cook over medium heat for another 2-3 minutes. Next add 1.5 cup of water or until the meat is covered then close the pressure cooker’s lid. (Instant pot: Pressure Cook mode at high pressure for 13 minutes)
5. After the pressure cooker has reached the pressure point leave the heat on for 2 minutes then turn off the heat. Let it sit in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes then release the pressure. (Instant Pot: Let it sit in there for 10 more minutes)
6. In the meantime, cut up Sher li hon into 1.5 inches in length and wash thoroughly because they usually have a lot of sand in them. Peel and slice daikon into medallion shape about 1/4 of an inch thick. Note: use a salad spinner for the sher li hon to get rid of excess water.
7. After releasing the pressure, remove the lid and turn the stove back on to medium. Add daikon and cook until they are around 80% cook. TIP: Daikon becomes translucent when cooked. Right now there should be a lot of liquid in the pot but don’t worry we will reduce this liquid down to about 10% left. (Instant Pot: manually release all the pressure. Switch to Sauté mode and from here on the directions are the same).
8. Once daikon is around 80% cooked, add sher li hon and stir.
9. We don’t like our Paa soupy so we usually reduced the liquid all the way down to 10% or even 5%. Note: If you are not going to reduced the liquid you will need to add more salt.
