Crispy Pork & Broccoli Noodles

Ingredients

• 500 g pork mince
• 3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 15 g fresh ginger, finely grated
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 300 g egg noodles
• 200 g broccoli, cut into small florets
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil — it should taste like the sea, and it's your only chance to season the noodles themselves. Cook the egg noodles to pack instructions, drain, and toss with a few drops of the sesame oil so they don't clump while you build the rest.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar and chilli flakes. Taste it — most of the salt comes from the soy, but the splash of vinegar is what stops the whole thing tasting flat. Set aside.
3. Get the wok screaming hot over maximum heat — you want it smoking faintly before the oil goes near it. Add the vegetable oil, then the pork mince in two batches, pressing each into an even layer. All at once and the pan crowds, water comes out, and you've boiled the meat instead of browning it. Season generously with salt and pepper as it goes in.
4. Resist the urge to stir for 2–3 minutes — you're after a deeply crispy, lacquered brown underside. Break it up and stir-fry for another 2 minutes until cooked through and shaggy with crisp edges. Tip onto a plate and repeat with the second batch, then return the lot to the wok.
5. Tip in the broccoli and stir-fry for 3 minutes until vivid green and just tender with bite. Add the garlic and ginger and toss for no more than 30 seconds, just until fragrant — burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter, so watch it and keep things moving.
6. Pour the sauce around the edge of the wok so it hisses and reduces on contact. Toss for 30 seconds until it turns glossy and clings, then add the drained noodles and keep tossing for a minute until every strand is coated and the pork is hanging on.
7. Finish with the rest of the sesame oil. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table.
8. Pile the noodles into bowls, shower with the sliced spring onions, and scatter the toasted sesame seeds across the top.