Thai Satay Slow Cooker Pork

I may have previously mentioned how much I love my slow cooker.  During Winter soups, stews and shanks are on high rotation in our house.  But I think I’ve become stuck in a crock-pot rut.  I keep revisiting the same flavours over and over.

Yesterday I decided to try something new.  My inspiration was the large rolled pork roast lurking in the bottom of the deep freeze.  I gazed deep into the pantry, called upon MacGyver for inspiration and Thai Satay Slow Cooker Pork was born!

Thai Satay Slow Cooker Pork

Ingredients:

3.5kg rolled Pork roast *

olive oil for searing

Sauce

3 tbsp minced ginger

3 tbsp minced garlic

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup diced tomato (I used the tinned variety)

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp orange zest

2 tbsp Gourmet Garden Thai seasoning

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp kecap manis**

Method:

Remove crackling and excess fat from pork.

Combine ingredients for the sauce in a food processor.  Blend until combined.

Heat oil in a fry pan over a high heat.  Sear pork, browning all sides.

Place pork in the slow cooker.

Pour over blended sauce.

Cook on high heat for three hours, stirring sauce occasionally.  After three hours, reduce heat to low and allow to cook for another three hours.

To serve, remove pork from slow cooker.  Allow to rest for twenty minutes.

I served slices of pork on top of wilted Asian greens, and drizzled with the satay sauce.  Rice would also be an ideal compliment.

* This was a massive piece of pork.  If you want to cook something of less-epic size, you can reduce the sauce quantities proportionately.

** Kecap Manis is an Indonesian sauce.  It’s dark brown, syrupy and sweeter than normal soy sauce because of added palm sugar.  It’s sometimes sold as Indonesian Soy Sauce.

Verdict:

Terrific flavours!  This meal got rave reviews, D declared it ‘Top Ten”.  It’s an encouraging first step in getting out of my crock-pot rut.  Do you cook any great slow cooker meals?