‘Muu parlow’, pork shank braised in sweet soy with eggs and noodles

This sweet, rich, salty and aromatic dish is the perfect thing to warm you up during these cold winter days. It is a very popular street food snack in Thailand and as its all made in one pot, its ideal for home-cooking. The perfect dish to throw together in the morning and then be left to braise all day. The pork is first roasted to allow the skin to crisp slightly and to melt the fat. The fat is then used to fry out a paste with spices and aromats and let out with stock to make a braising liquor. The meat is then left to simmer and tenderise for hours to create a shiny, porky broth that is quite extraordinary and beautiful eaten with rice noodles.

Serves 4

1 Pork shank, around 1.5kg, bone in

1 litre chicken stock

10 garlic cloves, peeled

3 tablespoons, ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

1 teaspoon, ground white pepper

1 tablespoon table salt

10g, coriander, picked and washed

2 fresh bay leaves (dried will do)

2x 4cm pieces cassia bark (cinnamon will do)

100ml oyster sauce

100ml sweet soy

2 tablespoons, palm sugar (dark brown soft sugar will do)

80ml fish sauce

4 medium eggs

100ml vegetable oil

150g, thin vermicelli rice noodles, blanched in boiling salt water for 1 minute and then refreshed under cold water.

Begin by roasting the pork shank. Coat the shank, in the oil and have the rest of the oil in an oven proof pan, place the shank in the oil and roast in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees centigrade for around 45 minutes, until the skin on the shank is beginning to crisp and the fat is rendering into the bottom of the pan, turn the shanks every 15 minutes to ensure even cooking. Next remove the pan from the oven temporarily and place the shank to one side, place the pan with the pork fat over a medium flame.

Meanwhile, make the paste. In a pestle and mortar add the garlic, ginger and white pepper and pound to a paste, use some coarse sea salt as an abrasive if necessary.

Then proceed to fry the paste in the oil, moving constantly until it is golden brown. Next add the stock, fish sauce, sugar, sweet soy, cassia bark, sugar, bay leaves and oyster sauce. Add the pork shank back into this liquid, making sure it is submerged under the stock, add a little more stock if needs be. Next put a lid on the pot and place back in the same oven for around 3 hours. By this time the meat should fall off the bone and the sauce should be loose but rich in taste, almost like a broth. At this stage add the eggs and soft boil in the sauce for five minutes, then remove and peel the shell.

Serve the pork shredded off the bone in bowls with the noodles underneath and one egg chopped in half in each bowl, then pour the hot broth over all of this and serve sprinkled with coriander leaves. This dish is also delicious served with steamed jasmine rice if you prefer.