Phagshapa

Ingredients

• 600 g pork belly, cut into finger-thick strips
• 300 g white radish (mooli), cut into half-moons
• 8 dried red chillies
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 20 g ginger, cut into julienne
• 5 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 tsp Sichuan pepper (timur), crushed
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 350 ml water
• 60 g dried fiddlehead ferns (ningro), or 100 g spinach

Before you cook

• Soak the dried fiddlehead ferns in warm water for 30 minutes, then drain and cut them into short lengths.
• Cut the pork belly into finger-thick strips and the radish into half-moons.
• Crush the Sichuan pepper coarsely.

Steps

1. Soak the dried red chillies in warm water for ten minutes, then chop them roughly.
2. Put the pork strips into a cold heavy pot and set it over medium heat.
3. Cook for eight minutes without any oil, turning the strips, until the fat runs and the edges brown.
4. Add the onion, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for four minutes in the rendered fat.
5. Add the chopped soaked chillies and cook for two minutes.
6. Tip in the radish and turn it through the fat for two minutes.
7. Pour in the water, add the salt and bring the pot to a boil.
8. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for twenty-five minutes until the pork is tender and the radish has turned translucent.
9. Add the soaked ferns and the crushed Sichuan pepper.
10. Cook uncovered for five minutes so the broth reduces and clings to the meat.
11. Serve very hot with plain rice.