Spicy braised pork and carrots

I love pork belly – it’s cheap, succulent and incredibly delicious if you cook it low and slow. This is a Chinese-style (nowhere near authentic!) dish of warming spice and sweet, soft meat. Spicy, but not enough to make you sweat. This will comfortably feed 4.

• 400g pork belly without skin, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tbsp veg oil
• 3cm ginger, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 spring onions, sliced
• 3 tbsp shaoxing wine (could substitute dry sherry)
• 2 tbsp gochujang chilli paste (could substitute sriracha)
• 500ml chicken stock
• 4 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari if you want to make it gluten free)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 carrots, cut into chunky pieces

1. Boil a large pan of water
2. Drop pork into the boiling water and cook for 5 mins, then drain and leave to dry
3. Heat oil in a deep frying pan or casserole dish with a lid
4. Over a medium heat, fry pork pieces until golden and then remove and put to one side
5. Turn heat down and add garlic, ginger and spring onions
6. Fry until aromatic and then add shaoxing, gochujang, chicken stock, pepper, star anise, cinnamon, soy sauce and sugar
7. Bring to the boil and mix well
8. Add pork back in, stir and put the lid on. Simmer on a low heat for an hour
9. Add carrots and continue to cook uncovered for a further 30 mins, stirring occasionally

Serve with jasmine or basmati rice and stir-fried greens