Chinese Braised Belly Pork with Pak Choy

The flavour of preparing belly pork in this way takes quite a bit of beating.

Try this for an inexpensive warming winter meal.

Ingredients:

1 -1.5kg belly pork

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
30ml sunflower or vegetable oil
30ml caster sugar
5 whole cloves garlic
1 inch fresh root ginger, sliced
4 whole star anise
5ml whole peppercorns
1 whole red chilli
30ml white wine
100ml light soy sauce
300ml chicken stock
400g pak choy (4 large), quartered lengthways
25ml sesame oil
25ml light soy sauce
white sesame seeds, toasted
3-4 spring onions, chopped, to garnish

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Season the belly pork all over with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour the oil into an oven-proof saucepan with a lid. Place the pan on the heat then lay the belly pork, uncut, in the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side until browned. Tip the rest of the ingredients into the pan, stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Cover and transfer to the oven for 2-3 hours until tender.

When the pork is almost cooked, prepare the pak choy. Pour 50ml of water into a large frying pan and place over a medium heat. Add 5ml salt and the pak choy. Cook, tossing occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until all the water has evaporated and the pak choy is just cooked - the leaves should be soft but the base of the stalks will still be slightly crunchy. Drizzle with the sesame oil and soy sauce, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.

To serve, lift the pork from the pan and place on a board. Cut into thick slices and serve with the sauce from the pork and the pak choy on rice or noodles, garnished with spring onions.