Muu hong braised pork

Muu hong is a recipe from Phuket, brought by Hokkien Chinese. It can be found at all the trading posts on the Andaman side of Thailand down to Songkhla and further to Penang, Malacca and Singapore. The use of soy sauce, and trader spices such as pepper, star anise and cassia feature in this rich braise. It should be fragrant and so tender you can cut it with a spoon. Shiitake mushrooms, bean curd sheets and boiled eggs can also be added.

2 HOURS + MARINATING | SERVES 4 | EASY

pork belly 600g

dark soy sauce 2 tbsp, plus a splash

garlic minced to make 2 tbsp

coriander roots 4

whole black peppercorns 1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying rock sugar or coconut sugar 3 tbsp light soy sauce 2 tbsp

oyster sauce 2 tbsp

star anise 2

cassia bark 4cm piece

shaoxing rice wine 1 tbsp

coriander to garnish

jasmine rice to serve

1 Cut the pork belly into 71/2cm squares, and marinate in a little of the dark soy sauce for a few hours.

2 Roughly pound the garlic, coriander roots and peppercorns with a pestle and mortar, or whizz to a paste in a food processor. Stirfry in 1 tbsp of oil for 3-4 minutes or until fragrant. Remove from the pan and add the sugar – it will start to caramelise.

3 Add the pork belly with the garlic, coriander root and pepper. Add the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce and 1 tsp of salt. Add the star anise and cassia bark, with 400ml of water, and simmer over a low heat for 1 hour 30 minutes until the pork is tender. Add more water if it is drying out – the pork should sit in a pool of dark, fragrant sauce. Serve with rice.

PER SERVING 504 kcals | fat 33.4G | saturates 11.2G carbs 19.8G | sugars 17.2G | fibre 1G | protein 30.6G | salt 4.5G