Braised Pork and Beans

WHAT YOU NEED

• 1 liter water
• 1 kilogram boneless pork ribs or pork belly
• 2 tablespoons Bertolli extra light olive oil
• 2.5 inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced into 0.5cm pieces
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 star anise
• 1 stick cassia bark (substitute with a cinnamon stick)
• 1 cup water
• 400 grams trimmed green beans, cut into 2 inch pieces
• Salt to taste

HOW TO MAKE

• Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan and then drop pork in. Cook for about six minutes and then remove from water and rinse in fresh water. Cut pork into one inch pieces
• Heat up a wok until smoking and add two tablespoons Bertolli extra light olive oil. Add one tablespoon white sugar and stir until completely dissolved.
• Add pork and ginger pieces and cook over medium-high flame, stirring regularly, for around 3 minutes until browning nicely.
• Mix in Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, star anise, cassia/cinnamon, and one cup water.
• You can then either: 1) Turn heat down to low, cover with a lid and cook for one hour and 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then mix in the beans and cook for a further 10 minutes; or 2) Place pork into a pressure cooker and cook for nine minutes. Then unlock the pressure cooker, mix in the beans and then cook pork and beans for ten minutes as a normal pot (not a pressure cooker); or 3) Place pork and beans into a slow cooker and cook for 7-8 hours.
• Taste and add ½-1 teaspoon salt if required before serving.