Pulled pork just got more irresistible with a sticky Asian marinade. This is a brilliantly versatile dish - use it to fill rice paper rolls or Chinese-style puffy omelettes or, as we do, stuff it in a baguette with pickled vegetables, a squiggle of sriracha chilli sauce and some mayo for a sort of easy banh mi. If you have leftovers, you could toss them through cooked hokkien noodles with steamed Asian greens, chopped into bite-sized pieces.
Ingredients
Pork and marinade
1.2 kg pork shoulder in one piece, skin and bone removed, some fat remaining
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cm piece of ginger, minced
2 tsp soy sauce
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
0.5 tsp 5 spice powder
Sauce
2 tsp mildly flavoured oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cm piece of ginger, minced
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbs rice vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
0.5 tsp 5 spice powder
1 tsp sesame oil
To finish
3 spring onions, ends removed and finely sliced
Half a bunch of coriander, leaves plucked
Method
Combine all ingredients for the marinade and rub over the pork. Leave overnight to marinate in the fridge (if you don't read this line till it's too late, just leave it as long as you can before cooking - any marinating time will help). Preheat the oven to 120C.
Place the pork in a roasting tin and pour a cup of water (250mL) around it. Cover the tin with a tent of foil and roast in the oven for approximately 5 hours or until completely cooked and falling apart when prodded. Take the pork out of the oven and allow to cool while you make the sauce.
Heat the oil in a saucepan over a low heat and add the second amounts of garlic and ginger and cook until soft - don't allow it to brown. Add the second amount of hoisin, five spice, soy and rice vinegar and heat, stirring, for five minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then add the sesame oil. Taste for a balance of sweet, sour and saltiness and adjust it as you like.
When the pork is cool enough to handle, pull it apart into chunky shreds and stir through the sauce with half the spring onion and coriander.
Serve on a platter, scattered with the remaining spring onion and coriander.