Chinese New Year Braised Pork
Celebrate Chinese New Year in delicious style with this delicious braised pork dish. Filled with flavour and just the right amount of spice, it’s the perfect dish to share with friends and family to welcome in the new year.
What You’ll Need
1 pork blade bone with rind (approx. 2kg)
1 orange (small)
2 star anise (whole)
2 cinnamon sticks
1tbsp cumin seeds
3 dried red chillies
8 bok choi
Boiled rice (to serve)
For the braising liquid
600ml rice wine (or dry sherry)
2 pints chicken stock
50ml soy sauce
175g granulated sugar
8 root ginger (sliced)
6 garlic cloves (crushed)
6 spring onions (whole)
1tbsp salt
1tsp black peppercorn (freshly ground)
Method
- Fill a large pan with water and bring to the boil. Add the pork and continue to boil. Then, skim and reduce the heat.
- Simmer gently, partially covered, for 30 minutes, then drain thoroughly.
- Use a potato peeler or a sharp knife to remove 8 strips of zest from the orange. Place the star anise, cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds, dried chillies and zest in a piece of clean muslin cloth, and tie together.
- For the braising liquid, combine all the ingredients in a large pot and bring to a simmer. Add the muslin cloth filled with spices along with the pork and bring back to a simmer, partially covered, skimming all the while.
- Cover the pot with a lid and leave to simmer for 3 hours.
- Meanwhile, cut the bok choi into quarters. Remove the pork from the liquid when the rind and fat are soft and tender. Remove the skin and cut the meat into small pieces.
- Add the bok choi to the pot and cook over high heat for 3 minutes until very tender. Remove the bok choi from the cooking liquid and place on a warm dish. Arrange the pork on top.
- Finally, skim off the fat from the braising liquid and boil until it reduces by about half. Pour some over the meat to moisten it and serve with rice.