Chinese braised pork with plums

Serves 6 Takes 50 mins, plus 3 hours 45 mins cooking £1.56 a portion 576 kcals, 33g fat, 10g sat. fat a portion Suitable for freezing

1¼kg pork belly, trimmed of excess fat 2 tbsp sunfower oil 1 onion, roughly chopped 1 bunch of spring onions (greens

and whites separated) 50g ginger, peeled and chopped 2 cloves of garlic small bunch of coriander (leaves

and stalks separated) 1 tbsp Chinese fve-spice powder 5 whole star anise 1 cinnamon stick 85g dark brown muscovado sugar 4 tbsp each light and dark soy sauce 4 tbsp hoisin sauce 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 2 stem ginger balls from a jar, diced,

plus 2 tbsp syrup 1 chicken (or pork) stock cube 450g plums, quartered and stoned jasmine rice and Asian greens, to serve

Prepare the pork belly

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pork belly and boil for 15 minutes. Remove the pork and cool then cut into 4cm chunks.

Brown the meat

Heat a little oil in a fameproof casserole dish and brown the pork. Remove the pork and set aside. Put the onion, spring onion whites, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks in a blender and whizz to a paste.

Start cooking the pork

Wipe out the dish, add the paste with a splash of water, and gently heat. Stir in the five-spice powder, star anise, cinnamon and 1 tsp ground pepper. Fry for 1 minute. Add the sugar, soy sauces, hoisin sauce, vinegar, ginger and ginger syrup. Return the pork, crumble in the stock cube and cover with water. Stir in a third of the plums and bring to a gentle simmer. Turn oven to fan 140C/conventional 160C/gas 3. Cover and bake for 2½ hours.

Thicken the sauce

Lift the pork into an ovenproof dish, cover with foil and keep warm in a low oven. Put the sauce back on the hob and boil until reduced by half. Add the remaining plums and cook for a few minutes more, add the pork and serve.