Slow Cooked Oriental Pork with Mandarins

The other day, a follower of this blog's Facebook page, enquired about whether I had any slow cooker recipes I could share. Unfortunately, I don't own a slow cooker although I think the concept is brilliant. I thought I would do a search amongst some food bloggers I follow and simply share a link if I found a dish that looked appealing. However, I ended up finding a recipe that had both the traditional and slow cooker methods listed so I decided to test it out.

Before I made it, I was concerned with the amount of onion and garlic involved, and wasn't entirely convinced about the pork and mandarin combination. However, I can honestly say it was delicious - and I will definitely be making it again!

The original recipe, along with the slow cooker instructions (and tips) can be found over at Cook Republic. The dish looks completely different, probably due to the fact that Sneh, the talented woman behind Cook Republic, is a food photographer, stylist and designer!

The only ingredient I substituted was the tamari, as I couldn't find any in my local supermarket. Since Google told me that tamari is similar to soy sauce but not as salty, I decided to use ketjap manis, a sweet soy sauce in its place.

Slow Cooked Oriental Pork with Mandarins

Serves 4

750g pork loin, roughly cubed or chopped
6 small brown onions*
10 cloves of garlic, whole and peeled
2 seedless mandarins, peeled and segmented
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 cup water
3 tablespoons ketjap manis
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon five spice powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup spring onions, sliced
boiled rice for serving

* My onions weren't tiny so I actually quartered them rather then adding them whole.


1. Heat oil in a saucepan. Once heated, add pork and season with salt and pepper. Cook until starting to brown. If you find the pork is starting to stew in the liquid rather than brown, pour some of the liquid out.

2. Add onions and garlic to the pan and saute until they begin to soften.

3. Add the mandarin, tomato sauce, white pepper, five spice powder, ketjap manis, vinegar and water. Stir everything together so that ingredients are well combined.

4. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 30-40 minutes.

5. Serve on top of boiled rice and garnish with spring onions.