My Healthy Boil Up | Pressure-cooked Pork, Greens and Doughboys (dumplings)

Gluten-free | No added fat | Sugar-free | Dairy free | Low sodium 

Serves 4

Why it's delicious

Some of the greatest comfort food I can recall growing up is the hearty, and not altogether healthy, New Zealand Māori-style boil-up. It was not only a way to utilise the more often than not unused part of the pork, the bones, but it was also cheap and plentiful, and when boiled for a good solid couple of hours, it was incredibly flavoursome and tender.

In this dish, I re-engineer the classic boiled pork, greens, and dumplings to make it healthy while not forsaking any flavour or texture. 

Helpful hints and tips

Choose a lean cut of pork or pork that can be trimmed of all the fat. 

I use a pressure cooker to speed up the cooking process, but you could also use a large heavy-based pot or slow cooker if you like. 

Before you start, you’ll need to prepare my Kombu Water. Kombu water is my healthy broth alternative and one of my favourite foundation recipes. If you need the recipe, you can find it here.

Ingredients

For the pork

• 1.5 kg lean pork shoulder trimmed of all the fat and cut into large chunks
• 500 ml (1.1 pints) Kombu Water
• 120 ml (4 fl oz) salt-reduced tamari
• 2 small green apples, peeled, cored and cut into quarters
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and squashed
• 3 ginger slices
• 3 star anise
• 2 cinnamon quills
• Pinch chilli flakes ( optional) 

Doughboys (Dumplings)

• 200 g (7 oz) gluten-free flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch Himalayan salt
• 1 egg
• 120 ml (4 fl oz) water

• 1 large bunch of watercress or 3 bunches of Chinese spinach, cleaned, chopped, and any large stalks removed

Method

1. Prepare the pork by placing the pork, kombu water, tamari, apples, garlic, ginger, star anise, cinnamon quills and chilli flakes into your pressure cooker and cook on medium to high for 1 hour once the steam has built up or cook the pork on pressure cook for a pot roast for one hour as per the manufacturer's instructions. 
2. If using a pot, set the ingredients on low temperature and simmer for 6-8 hours or until the pork is tender. Keep an eye on the water level, filling up the pot with kombu water if it starts to get low. If using a slow cooker, place all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on high for 6-8 hours or until the pork is tender. 
3. Make the dumplings by adding the flour, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl. Whisk the egg into the water and add the liquid to the flour. Mix until a dough is formed, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky. 
4. Roll the dough into 20 round dumplings, using more flour to dust your hands as you work in case the dough is sticky. 
5. Once the pork is tender, remove it from the pot and set aside. Heat the remaining liquid to a simmer, add the dumplings to the pot, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the pork back into the liquid to heat through
6. While the dumplings cook, heat a pot of water until boiling and quickly plunge the greens into the pot. They only need 30-60 seconds to cook, so they should be done at the last minute. 
7. Serve the pork with the dumplings and greens and spoon over some of the liquid from the pork pot.