Sticky slow roasted hoisin pork belly

500g pork belly

6 tbsp hoisin sauce (suree brand)

3 tblsp honey

3 tblsp rice vinegar

3 tblsp light soy sauce

4 tblsp tomato sauce

2 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped

2 florets of star anise

In a bowl, mix the hoisin, honey, vinegar, soy, ketchup, star anise and ginger, then pour over the pork and massage well.

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Transfer the pork and its marinade to a snug roasting tin, lined with foil. Roast for 2 hrs, or until tender, basting halfway through. Take the pork out and increase oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Remove the foil and pour the sauce into a small pan. Bring the sauce to the boil and let it bubble until thick and syrupy. Brush some of the sauce all over the pork and pop back in the oven, uncovered, for 20 mins until sticky and caramelised in places.

Could also try this in the slow cooker on low for 6/8 hours. 

Serve with steamed boiled jasmine rice and panfried tenderstem broccoli.

This one is courtesy of the blogging genius that is Rasa Malaysia with a few small adaptations. 

Serves 2

2 chicken breasts

2 tablespoons oil

5 slices peeled ginger
1 green pepper, about 4 oz., cut into small square pieces
1/2 packet tenderstem brocolli
1/2 cup unsalted cashew nuts
1/4 onion, cut into lengths

Marinade:

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon corn starch

1/2 teaspoon rice wine, optional

Sauce:

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoons dried chilli flakes 

1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce

3/4 teaspoon soy sauce

3 dashes white pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine, optional
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon MSG

Marinate the chicken meat with the baking soda for 15 minutes and then rinse the chicken thoroughly. Please make sure that the chicken is properly rinsed clean of the baking soda.

Pat the chicken meat dry with paper towels and then marinate with the rice wine and corn starch, for 15 minutes.

Mix all the Sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Heat up a wok with 1 tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the chicken meat until the color turns white or half-cooked. Dish out and set aside.

Add another 1 tablespoon of cooking oil into the wok and add in the ginger slices, bell pepper and onion.

Stir-fry until you smell the peppery aroma from the green peppers and add the chicken meat back in.

Add in the Sauce and stir continuously until the chicken meat is cooked and well coated with the sauce. Add salt to taste, if you like.

Add in the cashew nuts and do a few quick stirs. Dish out and serve the Cashew Chicken hot with steamed white rice.

Nige's Pork and Lemon Meatballs

I've adapted these little meaty balls of love from Nigel Slater's recipe, with the only minor adaptations is to use about half the anchovy fillets that are in the original recipe and to fry in olive oil. 

We have them with Pasta Aglio e Olio and some side salad. Tasty.

Pork and lemon meatballs

Serves 4.

70g fresh white breadcrumbs

500g pork

a lemon

a large handful of parsley leaves, chopped

about 6 bushy sprigs of thyme

2 tbsp grated Parmesan

4 anchovy fillets, chopped

to cook:

2 tbsp olive oil

Put the breadcrumbs and pork into a mixing bowl. Grate the lemon and add the zest to the pork, then halve and squeeze the lemon. Add the lemon juice to the pork with the parsley and the thyme leaves stripped from their stems. Tip in the Parmesan then the anchovy fillets. Season the mixture generously with black pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Make about 18 small balls of the mixture, using a generously heaped tablespoon of pork for each one. I shape them into a rough ball, flatten them slightly, then put each one on to a clean shopping board.

Warm the oil in a heavy-based non-stick pan. Fry them, about eight at a time, for 4-5 minutes until they are crisply golden on each side. Lower the heat and leave to cook through to the middle - a matter of 6-8 minutes more. I tend to turn them no more than once or twice during cooking so they develop a crisp, slightly sticky exterior.

Serve with Pasta Aglio e Olio and a green salad.