Vietnamese Braised Pork Noodle Bowl (Cao Lầu)

• 500g pork (shoulder/thigh/belly/lean) plus 1 kg pork bones for the stock

• 6-7 cloves of garlic, pounded into a paste in a mortar and pestle

• Suggested herbs: mint, perilla, coriander, Thai basil, sawtooth coriander

• 300g bean sprouts

The Braising Liquid

• 3 tbsp light soy sauce

• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tsp five spice powder

• 2 tbsp

• sugar

• White pepper

The Stock

• 2L chicken stock

• ½ tsp ground pepper

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 peeled onion

• 1 kg Cao Lau (or Soba Noodles)

• Wonton skins

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Start by chopping large chunks of onion, and place them in the sauce-pan. Bash and roughly chop some garlic and spring onion and slice some wedges of lime. Pour boiling water over the pork and boil for 10 minutes, to release the fatty impurities from the bones. Sear the onions without oil, to release the flavours and then pour the chicken stock over the top. Now transfer the bones into the stock pot.

For the braising liquid brown the spring onions and onion on a medium heat. Add the pork shoulder and sear it a little before adding the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, five spice and white pepper. Baste the meat in that sauce. Once you have a caramelised sticky sauce, cover completely in the stock and cook, lid off, for 45 mins.

Deep fry the noodles until crispy all over. After an hour strain the bones out and thin the caramelised sauce with stock if needed. Soak the noodles in boiling water for ten seconds and then blanch them in the stock to revive them. Finally blanch the beansprouts too.

To plate up, slice up your pork and lay it on the noodles and ladle some sauce all over. Place the herbs next to it, along with the crunchy wonton skins. Ladle some stock over to top it off and enjoy