Chinese Braised Pork Noodle Soup

Recipe for a Chinese Braised Pork Noodle Soup with strong flavours

A great dish to warm up with on a cool winter``s day. It has strong flavours from lots of exotic spices and is easy tp prepare.

Ingredients (for 4 to 6 persons)

750 g pork (shoulder, belly or ribs)
3 tblsp sesame oil
1 inch fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves
1 small onion
100 g soybean sprouts
200 g napa cabbage
2 dried Sichuan chillies
3 dries Chinese mushrooms
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
10 cloves
4 tblsp raw cane sugar
2 tblsp rice wine
150 ml soy sauce
400 ml water
Salt

Preparation

Rinse the pork, pat dry and cut into 1 inch pieces. Remove seeds from the chillies and soak together with the mushrooms in hot water for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then cut into narrow strips. Peel ginger and cut into fine slices. Peel garlic cloves and onion and chop finely. Clean napa cabbage and cut into fine strips. Wash soybean sprouts and set aside.

Heat sesame oil in a large saucepan or pot and sauté onion, garlic, Sichuan chillies, ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick and cloves until fragrant. Reduce heat and add the brown sugar while stirring. Once the sugar starts to caramelize, add pork and brown on all sides. Add mushrooms, rice wine, soy sauce and water, bring to a boil and simmer on low heat until pork is cooked and tender (about 1 hour). Shortly before the end of the cooking period, add soybean sprouts and napa cabbage.

In the meantime, boil salted water with a tablespoon of oil and cook the noodles following the package instructions. Then pour with cold water, drain and divide into serving bowls.
Once the pork is cooked, remove from the pot and slice thinly, then return to the pot.

Add hot braised pork soup over the noodles and garnish with chopped peanuts and fresh coriander.

Image source: Fotolia - #138578697 © kasipat