Pork stew with Thai 7 spice

This spice mixture with flavours of coriander, turmeric, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, fennel, bay, pepper and/or cardamom is a convenient shortcut ingredient if you don’t want to mix spices yourself.

Makes 4 generous servings • Preparation: 20 minutes • Cooking time: 2 hours

• 30ml each butter and olive oil

• 800g pork neck, cut into 2cm cubes

• about 15ml cornflour

• 2 red onions, halved and thinly sliced

• 3 garlic cloves, chopped

• 2cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated

• 10ml Thai 7 spice

• 60ml sherry

• 60ml light soy sauce

• chopped fresh red chilli, to taste

• egg fried rice, peas and bean sprouts, to serve

1 Heat the butter and oil together. Roll the meat in the cornflour, season with salt and fry until golden-brown. Remove from the pan, add another dash of oil if necessary and sauté the onion until translucent. Stir in the garlic, ginger and spices and fry for another minute or two.

2 Add the sherry to the pan and simmer until almost reduced. Scrape off the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Spoon the meat back, add about 250ml lukewarm water and simmer over low heat for about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the meat is tender and the sauce is lush in texture.

Stir occasionally. Season the sauce with the soy, making sure the sauce is thick enough (you can scoop out the meat and reduce the sauce slightly if preferred). Sprinkle the chilli over and serve with the rice and vegetables.