Trim the Pork Shoulder of all fat and chop into 4cm ish pieces (or get your butcher to do this)
Finely slice an Onion
Crush the Garlic and finely chop the Ginger
Finely chop a fresh Red or Green Chilli (more if you like your food spicy)
Heat the Oil in a large heavy bottomed pan – and when hot, add the Onions
Cook for 5 – 10 minutes or until the Onions are soft and starting to colour. Add the Ginger, Garlic and a pinch of Salt and cook for a few minutes, stirring
Add the Pork and brown for a few minutes, until all the pieces of Pork have lost their pink colour
Add 4 tbsp Kecap Manis and 2 tbsp of Soy
(Kecap Manis is an Indonesian, sweet soy, easily replaced with Soy plus a teaspoon of Sugar. You can get it in lots of supermarkets)
Also add the chopped fresh Chilli and a crunch of Black Pepper
Finally add the Stock… bring to the boil and simmer gently, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring intermittently. If you’d like a little extra sweetness, you could stir in a teaspoon or two of Tamarind (from a jar)
While the Pork is simmering… make your Crispy Onions… Very finely slice an Onion, and then fry it over a medium heat until starting to burn slightly around the edge. Remove the Onions with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper
When the Pork is cooked, it will be soft and tender… It will already taste delicious but if you’d prefer the sauce thicker, you can remove the Pork when it’s cooked and reduce the sauce over a gentle heat for a few minutes before re-adding the Pork to the pan
Serve the braised Pork with the Crispy Onions on top, and some Simple Wholegrain Basmati Rice and maybe some fresh salads… cucumber, spring onions, peppers etc
This recipe is (more or less) from Rick Stein’s ‘Far Eastern Odyssey’