Karen Martini’s five-spice pork chops with wombok and pickled apple slaw

Making your own five-spice powder might seem like a step you can skip, but there’s nothing like a fresh batch made using carefully toasted spices. So often, items like this have been sitting on a supermarket shelf for quite some time before we buy them and, afterwards, sit in the pantry for even longer, becoming a vaguely aromatic dust. When cooking the pork, it’s best to leave a blush in the middle. Many people still believe that pork needs to be cooked thoroughly: other than mince or sausages, this isn’t the case. You’ll just end up with dry meat.

Serves 4

4 pork chops with some fat, rind removed
2 tsp five-spice powder
extra virgin olive oil
salt flakes
3 tbsp kecap manis
½ wombok, finely shredded
3 bird’s eye chillies, finely sliced
5 coriander sprigs, leaves and fine stems picked
5 mint sprigs, leaves picked
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 handfuls crispy fried noodles*
2 tbsp fried shallots*

For the five-spice powder
1 long cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
5 star anise
10 cloves
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 tbsp fennel seeds

For the pickled apple
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
½ tsp salt flakes
2 apples

Loading

1. For the five-spice powder, preheat a pan over a low-medium heat, then toast the cinnamon, star anise and cloves for a couple of minutes until darkened and fragrant, shaking the pan to toast evenly. Tip into a bowl to cool.

2. Toast the Sichuan peppercorns and fennel seeds in the same way before tipping them in with the other spices to cool. Then grind them using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder until you have a fine powder.

3. Lightly oil the chops with olive oil, then season with salt and the 2 tsp five-spice powder. Brush with half the kecap manis, then set aside.