This meal takes a little longer than most of the other recipes on my blog, but it presents really beautifully and is incredibly tasty and fresh. Slow cooking the pork means that it stays tender and can soak up the flavours of the ingredients surrounding it. As you may have guessed by now, I love cooking with pork (more so ever since I omitted beef from my diet) and any chance to try my hand at crackling is welcome.

Collect for the pork

• 600 g pork (shoulder or leg is ideal, but any cut will do) cut into chunks
• 2 t Chinese five-spice
• 1 t brown sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1.5 T oil
• 2 T lemongrass, finely chopped
• 3 x garlic, finely sliced
• 3 T soy sauce
• 2 c water
• 2 t brown sugar

Collect for the salad

• 1 packet of udon noodles
• 2 c mung bean sprouts
• lebanese cucumber (otherwise normal is fine), with the seeds removed, cut into match sticks
• 1 c coriander
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1/3 c chopped peanuts
• 2 large chillies (optional)
• lime, quartered

Create

1. Combine the pork with the five spice, first measure of brown sugar, salt and pepper. Coat thoroughly and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat oil. Fry lemongrass until fragrant (less than a minute), add pork and garlic and cook until the pork is browned.
3. Add soy sauce, water and second measure of brown sugar. Simmer, cover and cook for approximately 1 hour (or until the pork is tender). Don’t let the liquid reduce too much; if it begins to look like it is running out, add some more water, sugar and soy sauce.
4. Once the pork is cooked, prepare the noodles. Pour boiling water over the noodles for five minutes (or until soft). Drain the water and add the mung beans to the noodles.
5. Divide the noodles between the bowls. Top with pork and salad.