Thai Braised Pork Leg with Rice (Khao Kha Moo)

Pork hock braised for hours in sweet soy and warm spices, served with rice, egg and pickled mustard greens.

TIME BREAKDOWN
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 3h
Total: 3 hours 25 minutes
Vegetarian
❌
Nuts
❌
Serves
4 people
Difficulty
Medium

Ingredients

  • 2 raw pork hocks, about 800g each, unsmoked
  • 1.5 litres water
  • 5 coriander roots, or the lower stems
  • 8 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 tsp white peppercorns
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 3 star anise
  • 4 cloves
  • 80g palm sugar or light brown soft sugar
  • 100ml dark soy sauce
  • 60ml light soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tbsp pickled mustard greens, chopped, from Asian shops
  • 200g Chinese broccoli (gai lan) or tenderstem broccoli
  • 300g jasmine rice, to serve
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped, in 4 tbsp rice vinegar with 2 sliced bird's eye chillies, to serve

Method

  1. Singe any hairs from the hocks over a flame or scrape with a knife, then rinse. Put them in a pan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse.

  2. Pound the coriander roots, garlic and peppercorns to a rough paste.

  3. Put the hocks in a large heavy pan with the 1.5 litres of water, the paste, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, palm sugar and both soy sauces. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer very gently for 2 hours 30 minutes, turning the hocks every 30 minutes, until the meat is meltingly tender.

  4. Meanwhile, hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes, cool in cold water and peel. Add them to the braise for the last 30 minutes.

  5. Remove the hocks and eggs. Boil the braising liquid for 10 to 15 minutes until reduced to a glossy sauce, then season with the fish sauce.

  6. Cook the rice according to the packet instructions. Blanch the broccoli in boiling salted water for 2 minutes and drain.

  7. Slice the pork off the bone. Serve over rice with the halved eggs, broccoli, mustard greens and sauce, with the chilli vinegar on the side.