Nigel Slater’s recipe for tomato and ginger pork

Put 300g of small, mixed tomatoes into a blender or food processor.

Tip 1 tbsp of yellow mustard seeds into a shallow pan and fry them, covered with a lid, for a minute or two until they start to crackle and pop. Remove them from the heat and pour them into the blender with the tomatoes.

Peel 50g of fresh ginger, then roughly chop and add it to the tomatoes. Remove the leaves from 25g of basil and also add them to the tomatoes.

Pour in 5 tbsp of olive oil, then blend all the ingredients to a sloppy paste. Taste and season with a little salt and black pepper, then set aside.

Heat a ridged griddle pan over a moderate to high heat, lightly oil and season 2 large pork steaks (about 180g each), then put them on the hot griddle to cook. Press the meat firmly down on the griddle as it cooks, leaving it in place for about 4 minutes. Turn and cook the other side.

Meanwhile, warm the tomato and ginger paste in a small saucepan, stirring in half a teaspoon of caster sugar. Cut the pork into finger-thick strips, then toss them in the tomato sauce and serve. Enough for 2

The exact time your pork will take to cook depends on the thickness of the steak and the heat of your griddle, but it shouldn’t take longer than 6 or 7 minutes. I like to press the meat down on to the griddle with a palette knife as it cooks or put a weight on top of it, such as another pan. The quicker you cook the meat, the juicier it will be.

On the side you might like to serve a few rustling sauté potatoes or a mound of wide and buttery noodles.

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