Slow Cooked Pork and Peas with Chu Hou Sauce (排骨豬腩炆碗豆)

We've been growing peas this summer, much to the delight of my eldest. She loves to help me to shell the peas whilst sitting in the sunshine, but refuses to eat them!

This is a lovely slow cooker recipe which requires a bit of preparation, but it is well worth it. If you don't have a slow cooker, you can cook it in a casserole and place in a low oven (say 120 degrees fan) for 90 minutes or so.

Ingredients

• 300g pork belly strips, cut into large chunks, about 3-4cm length
• 250g meaty pork ribs, cut into 4cm lengths
• 1 heaped tablespoon chu hou (柱侯) sauce - use hoisin sauce if you don't have it, and add a bit more garlic and ginger to the pot
• 3-4 slices of ginger, bashed with the flat of a cleaver
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, bashed with the flat of a cleaver and peeled
• 1 very heaped tbsp of chu hou (柱侯) sauce
• 1-2 tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1 capful of shaoxing rice wine (or substitute dry sherry)
• 1 star anise
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 450ml pork stock
• 2 big handfuls of shelled peas
• 1 tsp sugar
• Few drops of sesame oil
• Sunflower oil for frying

Serves 2 hungry people

Instructions

• Prepare the marinade. Place the chu hou sauce, light soy sauce, shaoxing wine, cornflour and star anise into a bowl and mix to combine
• Place all of the pork into a large pan and cover with boiling water. Boil gently for 5 minutes to allow the scum to rise to the surface. Drain into a colander and rinse the scum from the meat
• Heat about 1cm depth of sunflower oil into a wok until very hot. Add the ginger and stir-fry for 30 seconds, before adding the garlic
• When the garlic begins to turn golden, add the pork. Keeping the heat high, move the pork around the wok, until it is sealed and browned. Remove the garlic and ginger and discard
• Remove the pork with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl. Add the marinade to the pork and mix well to give the meat an even coating
• Heat the oil remaining in the wok, and add the sliced onions. Stir fry quickly for a minute or two until the onions are softened and glossy. Remove from the wok, leaving behind as much excess oil as possible

(optional - at this point I added the onions to the pork and left it in the fridge overnight, as I was putting it into the slow cooker the next morning for dinner)

• Place the pork, onions, peas, sugar and pork stock into the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours
• At the end of cooking, skim away any excess fat from the surface of the sauce. If you wish to thicken the sauce, place in a pan on the hob and add some cornflour mixed with a little water - a teaspoon of cornflour at a time. Add a few drops of sesame oil and serve with boiled rice

Slow Cooked Pork and Peas with Chu Hou Sauce (排骨豬腩炆碗豆)

Served with Rice