Chairman Mao claypot pork

It’s Chinese New Year tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to spending time with my family, feasting on traditional foods that symbolise good luck, health and prosperity for the coming year. I thought I’d cook something Chinese this weekend, so I opted for the ‘Chairman Mao’ or ‘red braised’ pork belly recipe well known in the Hunan province. The pork belly is meant to turn out a deep red in colour – the reason for my choosing this recipe, as red is considered lucky in Chinese culture. I used the wonderful rare breed pork belly from my Farmison meat box.

Spicy Sichuan aubergine and minced beef

Now for one of my favourite all time dishes that’s very easy to make (and eat!). It’s a tangy, spicy Sichuan recipe for aubergine, to which you can add minced pork, beef and even tofu or chicken. I adore any Chinese recipe for braised aubergine, where the aubergines soak up all the delicious sauces. I used the minced beef from my Farmison meat box to create this dish.

Mum’s braised beef shin stew

Since unboxing my Dunwood Farm meat box I have had a hankering to go back to a traditional, familiar recipe after the Americana love-in that was my Farmer’s Choice box. As there was some beef shin in there, I decided to cook a recipe that my mum always does – a slow braised stew with Chinese ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms and Jew’s ear fungus (bit of an odd name, I know). These are dried store cupboard ingredients that every Chinese cook has, so it’s easy to whip up a meal at a moment’s notice.

Pork wonton dumplings

This weekend I had a go at making my own wonton dumplings with Laverstoke organic pork mince. When I was a kid, I remember helping my mum make jiaozi dumplings in preparation for dinner parties. I found great pleasure in pleating the folds of the pastry and getting them just right. Later in life, this obsessive repetitive action turned into an interest in modular origami. There is much to be said of folding flat planes into 3D units, multiple times over.

Foochow red rice wine chicken

I suspect this post is so niche that if you’re not a Chinese person of Foochow descent, you might as well look away now! Today I made a Foochow red rice wine chicken stew with my Roaming Roosters whole free range chicken; it’s a traditional, age-old dish that has been passed down to me from my Malaysian Foochow mum, as it has through lots of other people’s mums. It’s my first time making it, and as most people who are familiar with this dish will know, it’s hard to make unless you have the special ingredient: red rice wine dregs or lees.