I’ve tried for awhile to come up with some kind of cute story or something real to say about this pork dish other than “Eat this now!”, but really that’s all I want to say.

Eat this! Make this dish! Put it in your mouth!

It’s really just that good. The marinade for the pork is a simple collection of easy to find Asian ingredients: ginger, garlic, soy sauce and fish sauce, if you don’t have fish sauce in your pantry already than you really should. Now the sauce on the other hand is where all your flavor is packed and boy does it pack a punch. Tons of cilantro, lots of lime, some chili paste and roasted peanuts, the only odd ingredient is xantham gum. It’s like cornstarch, it thickens things, but unlike cornstarch it doesn’t have to be heated to start it’s thickening action, it can be done while cold. Xantham gum is a super useful ingredient, great for thickening a loose sauce that you don’t want to heat up like a salsa, salad dressing or chimichurri. It has the tendency to get a little clumpy if you incorporate it all at once, if you mix it with another dry ingredient, like in the case of this recipe sugar you won’t have any clumping issues.

I served my pork and peanut chimichurri with sesame dressed rice noodles and a coleslaw with mango. This recipe could be utilized in so many other ways, pair the sauce with shrimp or tofu, serve it with rice or put leftover thin slices of the meat into fresh summer rolls.