George Georgievski recipes: School Lunch Box star shares his best recipes for lunch leftovers

School Lunch Box founder and bestselling author George Georgievski demonstrates how to create a delicious dinner that also doubles as lunch leftovers that are anything but lacklustre.

Cuban stir-fry

I once studied the Cuban revolution for two years, just for fun. I learnt a heap of interesting facts, but I also discovered the Cuban stir-fry, a traditional Cuban dish I had never heard of before. I struggled to find any recipes (this was more than 15 years ago), but when I finally did, I made it my own, and we’ve enjoyed it ever since. Havana, here we come.

Serves 4

500g pork fillet, sliced into thin strips (stir-fry style)

juice of 1 lime, plus lime wedges to serve

2 tbsp orange juice

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp olive oil

1 red capsicum, sliced

1 green capsicum, sliced

1 medium brown onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup cooked microwave brown rice (or try black rice — delicious)

1 cup canned black beans

¼ cup coriander leaves, thinly sliced

Are you ready? First, marinate the pork fillet. In a bowl, combine the pork, half the lime juice, half the orange juice, and the cumin, paprika and oregano. Give it a good mix and pop it in the fridge while you get the rest of the recipe sorted.

Once you’ve sliced all your veggies, grab a wok and heat up the olive oil – you want it nice and hot. You are going to cook the pork quickly, so get a bowl ready to put it in once it’s done.

Drop the pork into the wok and stir. A little sear is good, so don’t stress if it catches a bit. Once the pork is almost cooked (it should take less than a minute), pop it in your bowl and throw the capsicums, onion and garlic into the wok. We want them to have some texture, so make sure you don’t overcook them.

They should be ready in about a minute. At that point, add the cooked rice, along with the remaining lime juice and orange juice to deglaze the wok, then throw the pork back in to finish it off. Give it 30 seconds and you’re done.

To plate up, put the black beans on a serving plate, then top with your veggies and rice, followed by the pork slices on top. Finally, garnish with the coriander, and pour over any remaining juice from the wok. Enjoy.

Bao bun fun

Fusion is such a cool concept in the culinary world, especially when you accidentally fuse two cultural foods to create something unique. This is what happened to me when I popped my left-over Cuban stir-fry into freshly steamed bao buns. It’s as simple and as fun as that. You can find bao buns at supermarkets and Asian grocers.

This recipe is basically all assembling — the hardest part is getting the ingredients out of the fridge.

Makes 6

½ cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp lime juice

6 bao buns

1 cup left-over Cuban stir-fry

2 tbsp thinly sliced coriander leaves

lime wedges (optional), to serve

Start by mixing the mayo and lime juice to make your sauce.

Steam your bao buns following the packet instructions, then spoon some of the stir-fry into each one. Finish with some coriander. You can add a lime wedge to the lunchbox if you want a little extra zestiness. When you’re ready to eat, just drizzle the sauce on top and you’re good to go.

PRO DAD TIP:

If you don’t have any bao buns, just use a crispy baguette roll instead. Still good!

This is an edited extract from Tonight’s Dinner, Tomorrow’s Lunchbox by George Georgievski, $29.99, published by Murdoch Books.