Days off right before a string of night shift calls for some slow cooked food. The Japanese Cha Shao pork that is served with ramen adds so much flavour to the dish.  There are hundreds of ways to make this dish. I just fiddled with the sauce to make it taste the way I liked. I also added a modern touch of solidifying the sauce with abit of agar agar which seems all the craze with the western chef with the wave of molecular gastronomy.

• Pork – Leg (is what I used, but any cut with skin/fat/tendons will do)
• Soy
• Dashi powder
• Mirin
• Sugar
• Garlic
• Spring onion
• Shao hsing wine – 1/2 cup

Pan fry the pork first to add a little colour. make up the sauce and top it up with water (about 1 part sauce to 5 parts water). make sure it taste right and not too salty. it should be a little salty, a little sweet and full of flavour. Play with it. Cook it in the sauce for about 1.5hrs. Turn off the heat and just leave it in there until it reaches room temperature. Put it in the fridge. Slice thinly (best straight out of fridge) to serve.

The jelly is made with the sauce as above, boiled with agar agar (1 part agar agar to 100 parts sauce) until it completely dissolves. Pour it into a plate and chill it in the fridge until it turns solid. slice to shape.