Moo Hong

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg pork belly, skin on, cut into 4 cm cubes
• 10 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp white peppercorns
• 4 coriander roots, scrubbed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 60 g palm sugar
• 2 star anise
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 700 ml water
• Coriander leaves and pickled mustard greens, to serve

Before you cook

• Cut the pork belly into thick cubes, keeping the skin attached to every piece.
• Pound the white peppercorns to a powder in a mortar.
• Add the garlic, coriander root and salt to the mortar and pound to a coarse, fragrant paste.
• Rub half the paste into the pork and leave it to sit for 20 minutes.
• Break the palm sugar into small pieces so it melts quickly.

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat.
2. Add the remaining garlic and pepper paste and fry for 2 minutes until the garlic turns pale gold.
3. Add the palm sugar and let it melt and darken for 2 minutes, until it smells like caramel and just begins to smoke at the edge.
4. Add the pork and turn it in the caramel for 5 minutes, coating every piece.
5. Pour in the dark and light soy sauces and keep turning the pork for 2 minutes so it takes on the colour.
6. Add the water and the star anise and bring the pot to a boil.
7. Lower the heat until only one bubble breaks the surface every second or two, then put the lid on.
8. Braise for 1 hour and 30 minutes, turning the pork over every half hour.
9. Take the lid off and test a piece: a chopstick should pass through the skin with no resistance at all.
10. Raise the heat and boil the sauce for 10 minutes, spooning it over the pork, until it is dark and syrupy enough to coat the back of a spoon.
11. Taste for balance, remembering that this dish should lead with garlic and white pepper rather than sugar.
12. Serve over rice with coriander and a small mound of pickled mustard greens.