Braised five flowers pork

In China this is the most popular way of cooking pork. If you cook more than you need for one meal, the rest can be warmed up and served again or used as an ingredient for a number of recipes.

1 1/2 lb (680 g) belly pork
2 spring onions
2 slices peeled ginger root
1 tsp oil
4 tbsp rice wine or sherry
4 tbsp soy sauce (1 of light and 3 of dark)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp Five Spice powder
some vegetables (optional)

Method

Cut the pork into 1in (25mm)cubes, the spring onions into ½in (12mm) lengths, and the ginger root into 2 or 3 small pieces.

In a warm greased pan, brown the pork lightly, then add the spring onions, ginger root, wine, soy sauce, sugar and Five Spice powder with enough water to cover the meat. Bring it to the boil and skim the surface. Now place a tightly fitting lid on the pan, reduce the heat, and let it simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours.

You can serve the dish on its own or add, in the last 30 minutes of cooking, some vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, turnips, bamboo shoots or bean curd, mushrooms (fresh or dried), all of which will help to absorb the fat from the meat as well as improve the flavour.

© Deh-Ta Hsiung and reproduced with his kind permission.