Filipino knuckle sandwich

This belter of a sandwich should go down nicely during the big fight later.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

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For the pork

1kg pork knuckle

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp Chinese five spice powder

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 large onion, sliced

500ml chicken stock

2 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp cider vinegar

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

For the rest

2 pak choi

½ tsp sesame oil

3 spring onions, shredded

1 red finger chilli, deseeded and sliced

4 sesame seed brioche buns

Pre-heat the oven to 220ºC.

Rub the salt, pepper, garlic and Chinese five spice over the pork knuckle.

Scatter the sliced onion over the bottom of a deep roasting tin or ovenproof casserole dish and place the pork knuckle on top.

Pour in the half the chicken stock and then cook for 30 minutes.

Take the roasting tin out of the oven and reduce the oven temperature down to 160ºC. Pour the remaining chicken stock over the pork and add the remaining ingredients – soy sauce, cider vinegar, star anise and cinnamon.

Place the pork back into the oven and cook for an hour. After an hour, give the pork knuckle a good basting and return it to the oven for a further hour. If necessary, add a little more water to the roasting tin.

Give it one more round of basting before turning the oven back up to 220ºC for the final 30 minutes of roasting.

Remove from the oven, loosely cover with foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Pour the remaining liquid into a saucepan, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer until it's a nice thick sauce.

Pour about 250ml of cold water into a wok, or saucepan, and bring to the boil. Put the pak choi into a bamboo steamer and place it in the wok, or on top of the pan. Allow to steam for 5 minutes.

Once cooked, break apart the leaves and toss together with the sesame oil, spring onions and chilli.

Shred the pork knuckle and slice open the buns. Divide the meat between them and drizzle over some of the sauce. Lay a couple of pak choi leaves on top and close them up.