Ingredients:-

  • 450g belly pork, including the skin
  • 4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
  • 1 level dessertspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
  • 1 whole Star Anise
  • 5cm piece Cinnamon Stick, broken into shreds
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar
  • 3 tablespoons Shaoxing Rice Wine

For the steamed greens:

  • 280g Tender Green Beans or 100g broccoli tips
  • 75g leeks
  • 2 salad onions
  • 100g savoy cabbage
  • Salt

Method:-

  • First of all prepare the pork. What you need to do is cut it into 2.5cm cubes, making quite sure that each piece still has the skin attached.
  • Now arrange the pieces of pork, skin side down, in the flameproof casserole and sprinkle them with the soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of water. Next add the chopped ginger, sprinkling it all around, popping in the star anise and the cinnamon as well.
  • Turn on the heat and as soon as the juices start to simmer cover and turn the heat to a low setting and cook the pork gently for 45 minutes.
  • After that turn the pieces of pork over, sprinkle in the sugar and the shaoxing rice wine, then cover again and continue to cook very slowly for a further 45 minutes turning it over once or twice more during that time.
  • Towards the end of the cooking time, put a pan of water on to boil.
  • Then prep the vegetables. Cut the broccoli, just below the flowery top and split any larger tips into two, then cut the stem into thin diagonal slices.
  • The cabbage needs to be de-stalked and sliced into ribbons about 1cm by 8cm and the leek halved lengthways, cleaned and cut into diagonal slices.
  • Then slice the white part of the spring onion and cut the tender green part into matchsticks.
  • Now toss the vegetables together with a little salt and steam over the boiling water for about 4–5 minutes (depending on how you like them) until the thickest part to the broccoli stalk feels tender when a skewer is inserted.
  • Serve the steamed vegetables on top of steamed fragrant rice and the pork with its cooking juices spooned over.