Chairman Mao's Red Braised Pork

After reading Fuschia Dunlop's "Shark's Fin & Sichuan Pepper - A sweet-sour memoir of eating in China" whilst still living in Hong Kong, I enjoyed it so much that I went to my local wet market, bought a 2lb slab of pork belly, the required ingredients and hurried home to make Chairman Mao's Red-Braised Pork.

Upon arriving home, I went through the recipe again but decided that I'd experiment with the spices based on my knowledge of the local wet markets.  In addition to the star anise, red chillies and cassia bark used in Fuschia's recipe, I added 2 bay leaves, 2 pieces of sand ginger, 1 small piece of tangerine peel, 1 slice of dried licorice root, 1 clove and 3 white peppercorns. I also used brown slab sugar instead of white sugar with only a teaspoon of white sugar at the final stage of cooking and a drizzle of dark soy sauce for colour.  The end result was absolutely amazing! If you haven't read Fuschia's book I highly recommend it. To buy a copy of Fuschia's book click here.

Back in Australia, I find the pork belly is much thinner and fattier than the cuts I used to buy in Hong Kong.  Also, it's quite expensive.  I experimented by using a pork forequarter roast that cost $14 a kilo and it worked perfectly.

If you want to achieve that lovely deep red colour add some red fermented bean curd. This is the same ingredient that gives traditional Cantonese Cha Siu (BBQ Pork) its gorgeous red hue.

Chairman Mao's Red Braised Pork (without the water chestnuts)

Serves 4

500g/1 lb 2 oz belly pork (skin optional)
2 tbsp groundnut oil
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
20 g/3/4 oz fresh ginger, skin left on and sliced
1 star anise }
2 dried red chillies
a small piece cassia bark or cinnamon stick
light soy sauce
salt and sugar
a few lengths of spring onion greens

Plunge the belly pork into a pan of boiling water and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until partially cooked. Remove, and when cool enough to handle, cut into bite-sized chunks. Heat the oil and sugar in a wok over a gentle flame until the sugar melts, then raise the heat and stir until the melted sugar turns a rich caramel brown. Add the pork and the Shaoxing wine. Add enough water to just cover the pork, along with the ginger, star anise, chillies and cassia. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 40–50 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, turn up the heat to reduce the sauce and season with soy sauce, salt and a little sugar to taste. Add the spring onion greens just before serving.

From 'Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook' by Fuchsia Dunlop (Ebury Press)

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/hot-stuff-chillis-are-the-ultimate-feelgood-ingredient-969617.html