I love the textures in this dish – crunchy but light filo pastry with a succulent, fresh oriental-spiced pork mince. It looks great and your guests will love cracking into these delicious treats. Not only that, it’s also really quick and simple to make, and healthy. Perfect with a glass of chilled white wine!
Top tip: Fresh Filo is best as it’s easier to manipulate. Remember that sugar offsets chilli, so keep this in mind when optimising your seasoning.
Makes 10-12 baskets
INGREDIENTS:
Pork Mince – 450g
Shallots – 3
Spring Onions – 5
Red Chilli – 1
Red Pepper – 1
Coriander – 1 handful
Fresh Mint – 6 leaves
Lime Juice – 1/2 lime
Fish Sauce – 1 tbsp
Light Brown Sugar – 1 tbsp
Baby Gem Lettuce – 1
Filo Pastry – 1 packet (fresh)
Oil – 1 tbsp
1. To make the Filo pastry cups you will need a lightly oiled muffin tray. Cut the sheets of pastry into squares roughly 12 x 12cm. Layer 3 sheets into each muffin cup, off-set to create a flower-type pattern, and using a pastry brush with a little oil, press the sheets down to mould them into shape. Brush all the edges with oil and place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden all over.
2. Thinly slice and de-seed the red pepper and chilli. Chop the spring onions and shallots.
3. In a wok, lightly fry the pork mince with the red pepper and 2 of the shallots until the meat is cooked through. Add the sugar and fish sauce and heat through.
4. Once the cups are cooked, remove from the oven, and let them cool slightly while finishing off the filling. Mix the pork mince with the spring onions, shallot, chopped coriander, lime juice and mint. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Start to arrange your plates, with leaves of baby gem lettuce. Place one filo basket on each lettuce leaf (this acts as a base so it won’t slip around), and place a couple of spoonfuls of the pork mince filling in each one.
Serve with a glass of dry white wine.
