Hung Shao Pork with Stir-fry Greens

It was many years ago when I first met Ken Lo, the famous cookery writer and restaurateur, and asked him how to make this, which is one of my favourite Chinese dishes. He didn't just give me the recipe, he came round to the flat where we were living and cooked it, giving us a lesson on the principles of Chinese cookery at the same time. The great thing about this recipe, which is still a huge favourite, is that it transforms an inexpensive piece of streaky pork roast into something exotic and unusual.

• Add to favourites
• Add to shopping list
• Email a friend
• Print

  Serves 2

Ingredients
pork, including the skin (buy it as a whole piece)
4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 level dessertspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 star anise
2 inch (5 cm) piece cinnamon stick, broken into shreds
1 level teaspoon caster sugar
3 tablespoons dry sherry
salt
For the stir-fry vegetables:
4 oz (110 g) broccoli
4 oz (110 g) Savoy cabbage
1 large leek
1 inch (2.5 cm) piece fresh ginger
1 large garlic clove
2 spring onions
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons groundnut oil

Conversions
Need help with conversions?

Equipment
You will also need a small-sized flameproof casserole, plus a wok or a large frying pan.

This recipe is taken from Delia Smith’s Winter Collection and has also appeared in Sainsbury's Magazine.

Method

First of all prepare the pork. What you need to do is cut it into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cubes, making quite sure that each piece still has the skin attached. You don't have to eat the skin, but its gelatinous properties are very important to the flavour of the finished dish. Now arrange the pieces of pork, skin-side down, in the flameproof casserole and sprinkle them with a little salt and then 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. Now cover the casserole, turn on the heat and as soon as the juices start to simmer, turn the heat down to its lowest possible setting and cook the pork for 45 minutes. After that turn the pieces of pork over on to their other side, sprinkle in the sugar and the sherry, then cover again and continue to cook very slowly for a further 45 minutes, turning the meat over once or twice more during that time.Towards the end of the cooking time, prepare the vegetables. To do this, first cut off the flowery heads of the broccoli, separating them and slicing them into small pieces. Then cut the stalky bits diagonally into very thin slices. The cabbage needs to be de-stalked and sliced thinly and the leek cleaned, halved lengthways and cut diagonally into slices. Peel the piece of ginger and slice this into little matchstick strips, and do the same with the garlic. Then chop the white part of the spring onions into thin rounds and the tender, green part into matchstick pieces.Now, in a little jug, mix together the soy sauce, sherry and 2 tablespoons of water. Then about 3 minutes before the pork is ready, heat up a wok or a large frying pan until it is very hot. Then add the oil and, when that's hot, add the ginger and garlic, tossing it about for 30 seconds. After that add the broccoli. Then add the cabbage, leek and the green part of the spring onion. Stir-fry this for about 1 minute, then finally add the rest of the spring onion and the soy sauce mixture. Then give it another few seconds, tossing and stirring, then serve the vegetables and the pork on a bed of plain boiled rice with any juices left in the wok poured over.

• Bookmark with:
• Delicious
• Digg
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon