This week's Off The Counter is inspired by a recipe from Waitrose Food Illustrated, a magazine I bought in 1999 while living in San Francisco (and yes, I tend to keep many an old magazine). This treasured dish conists of stir-fried ginger pork meatballs with shittake mushrooms and pak choi. This time around, we were short a few ingredients but substituted with what was available. Regardless, it was great to revisit the culinary pages that encouraged our initial love for cooking together. Take a look at the ingredients and instructions below:

Ingredients:

Shelled prawns, spring onions, finely chopped ginger, grated lime, minced pork, soy sauce, sake, garlic, sugar, cornflour, shiitake mushrooms, vegetable oil and pak choi.

Instructions:

Chop and devein prawns and set aside in a mixing bowl. Place onions, ginger, lime zest, 2 tbs of soy sause, 1 tbs of sake and 3 garlic cloves in a processor. Process until the mixture is fine and add the prawns to it. Combine the mixture with the minced pork and shape into small round balls.

Heat oil in large frying pan and fry the pork balls in batches for about 5 minutes. Remove and chill.

Tear or slice the mushrooms into large pieces, discarding the stems. Mix in some soy sauce, sake and sugar. Stir fry them with the pak choi and meatballs. Serve and enjoy!