Pork Belly in 5 Spice Gravy with Rice

Prep your garnishes. Roughly chop the coriander, then finely slice one spring onion. Add to a bowl of cold water and leave to sit while everything cooks – this’ll make your garnish nice and crisp. 

Roughly chop the garlic. Bash the ginger. Cut the ends off of 2/3 spring onions and keep them whole.

Set a large heavy-based saucepan with a lid over a medium-high heat and drizzle in the vegetable oil. Once hot, add the pork belly and sear for 2–3 mins, turning every 30 seconds, until all sides are golden.

Chuck in the chopped garlic, bashed ginger and two whole spring onions. Fry for another minute, stirring often. Sprinkle in the Chinese five-spice powder and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.

Pour in the beef stock, light brown sugar, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Give everything a stir, pop the lid on, and bring it to the boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to a low-medium and leave to gently simmer for 45 mins to 1 hr, until the pork is meltingly tender.

Lift out the aromatics and discard them. Let the pork cool slightly if batch-cooking or freezing before portioning it out. 

Meanwhile, cook the rice following pack instructions.

Reheat the pork and gravy over a medium heat. Mix the cornflour with an equal amount of water in a small bowl to make a slurry. Once the gravy is bubbling, turn the heat to low and slowly pour in the slurry, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer gently until thickened into a glossy gravy – add more slurry if it’s too thin.

To serve, spoon rice into bowls. Ladle over the pork and glossy gravy. Finish each bowl with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, your chilled spring onion and coriander garnish, and a good spoonful of chilli oil.