Pulled Jerk Pork with Mango Salsa

Rachel and I absolutely LOVE chillis and our favourite type is the gradually increasing heat provided by the super spicy, Caribbean scotch bonnet pepper, especially when it is used to make a lovely jerk marinade.

Tucking into a generous portion of irresistible jerked meat leaves us both sucking in air to cool the fire building in our mouths, but it is just too good we cannot stop.... Even when we're bloated, sweaty, crying messes, rolling around the floor in a hazy mixture of pleasure and intolerable pain we will still rub one last finger through the remaining fiery sauce left on the plate, incapable in our delirious state of making the sensible and necessary decision to simply stop eating....

If you are a chilli lover too you're probably getting excited reading this as our spicy little friends are addictive in the same way as drugs. People crave the release of endorphins caused by eating chili in the same way as speed was craved by 1950s American housewives or Meow Meow is by the young revellers of today. And like all addicts the fix to truly satisfy your itch needs to be stronger and stronger the longer you have been trapped by your own particular vice. Anything too weak will leave you feeling dissatisfied and angry. This is why this recipe is so good, even for the most ardent chili addict the scotch bonnet jerk paste seasoning will give you the hit you're craving and the addition of the jalapeno and mango salsa will top it off and leave you sinking into the drooling ecstatic state that you dream of.

The jerk paste can be used to marinate anything you like, for a quicker meal use chicken or go veggie with peppers and onions. Serve your delicious spicy jerk meat with a refreshing salad, the sweet mango salsa and a good dollop of cooling soured cream.

For the Jerk Paste:

Ingredients -

2 - 3 Scotch Bonnet Chilis, deseeded and chopped

3 Tsp All Spice

2 Bundles of Spring Onions

2 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Thyme

Tsp Cinammon

Tsp Nutmeg

Approx 1 and half inch piece of Ginger, peeled and chopped

7 Garlic Cloves

2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

• To make the paste put all the above ingredients into a mini blender and blend until smooth.
• Unused paste can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks 

For the Pulled Jerk Pork:

Ingredients -

Approx 750g Pork Shoulder Steaks

Splash of Water

Jerk paste from above (or bought paste) 

BBQ Sauce

• Rub a generous amount of the jerk paste over the pork and leave to marinate for a few hours
• Preheat your oven to 150c
• Place the marinated meat in a casserole dish, add a splash of water
• Cook in the oven with lid on for approx 3 hours, take the lid off for the last 30 mins
• Skim the fat off the top towards the end
• Remove the dish from the oven and shred the pork with a couple of forks, allow to cool a little before doing this
• Add a tbsp or 2 of your favourite bbq sauce and stir
• Turn the oven up to 190c and cook for approx another 30 mins to reduce and crisp up a bit.

For the Mango Salsa:

Ingredients -

1 Mango, peeled and diced
1/2 peeled and diced Cucumber
2 Tbsp finely chopped Jalapenos
1/2 Large Red Onion, diced
Good squeeze of Lime Juice
Handful of roughly chopped Coriander
Salt and Pepper

• Combine all the ingredients above in a bowl
• Squeeze over the lime juice
• Top with the coriander
• Season with salt and pepper
• Toss everything to combine