Braised pork tenderloin

I cooked another new (to me) dish tonight. I tried "Braised Pork Tenderloin with Star Anise, Sweet Soy and Balsamic Vinegar" from From Bangkok to Bali in Thirty Minutes. I realized I would have to adapt the recipe a bit when it occurred to me that the recipe called for a hunk of pork tenderloin, while I was working with the thin-sliced version from the Asian supermarket. I halved the amount of ingredients for the sauce, and still had plenty left over to pour over some leftover rice for tomorrow's lunch.

The "sweet soy" in the title is kecap manis. I'm still getting used to using it; a soy sauce whose best substitution is maple syrup is definitely a far cry from shoyu. The kecap manis was augmented with palm sugar, water, balsamic vinegar and light soy sauce; the star anise is stir-fried in the pan juices left from browning the pork tenderloin, along with ginger and garlic. The sauce is thick and sweet, but not overly sweet. It sort of approaches teriyaki sauce, but is different in some subtle way; maybe the influence of the vinegar. Whatever it is, it worked out pretty well.