Ingredients
800g boneless pork shoulder, cut into 3cm chunks
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
15g fresh ginger, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced or finely chopped
4 spring onions, finely sliced
2 tbsp tomato purée
450ml chicken stock
3 tbsp rice wine
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
½ tsp rice vinegar or white vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns
3 whole cloves
3 plums, halved and stoned
1 tsp sesame oil
¼ tsp chiu chow chilli oil to serve per person where wanted

Method
Put 1 tbsp of oil into a heavy based casserole dish and brown off your pork in batches.  Don’t overcrowd the pan because you do want to get that deep caramalised colour which you won’t get if you steam.  Put in a dish to the side as you carry on browning.

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Once you have browned the meat, put the chilli, ginger, garlic and spring onions into the hot oil and cook for 2-3 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add the tomato puree and stir through and cook for a minute before adding the stock, rice wine, soy sauces, vinegar, sugar and Chinese five spice.  Stir everything through and then return the meat to the pot and add the whole spices.  Give everything a good stir, put the lid on and put into the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, take off the lid, and spoon off the oil from the top of the dish.  Take this step slowly and expect it to take at least 5 minutes, gently scooping off.  Add 1 tsp of sesame oil, give everything a good stir, put the plums in the pot and give everything a gentle stir.  Return to the oven for a further half an hour when the meat should be soft enough to cut with a spoon.  

Serve with rice and green vegetables.