A common Southern Chinese cooking is called ‘lao sui’  – which means meat gently cooked in a soy sauce base marinate with spices, such as star anise, cinnamon and clove.  For this recipe, I use a light and fresh version of the ‘lao sui’.

Ingredients

• 2 pork hocks, about 1.5kg
• Sesame seeds, toasted, to garnish
• Green shallot, sliced, to garnish

‘Lao-sui’ stock

• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. sugar (I use Chinese rock sugar)
• 4 star anise
• 6  bay leaves
• 1-2 cinnamon sticks (approx. 10g)
• 1 tsp pepper corns, lighted crushed
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• a few cardamom pods, crushed
• fresh ginger (approx. 20g or to taste), sliced
• salt to taste

Dipping sauce

• 1tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 chili, seeds removed, sliced
• 2 tbsp. of the cooked marinate
• Mix all ingredients together

Method

• Place the hocks in a large pot, add water to cover the hocks; bring to boil; drain and rinse the meat and discard the water
• Return the large pot to the heat, add the pork hocks and the marinate ingredients, top with water to cover the hocks; bring the water to boil, skim off any impurity floating on top 
• Cover the pot with a lid, turn the heat to a very low simmer, cook the hocks for 3 hours or until tender.
• Remove the pot from the stove to cool
• Transfer the hocks to a large container;  cover the hocks completely with marinate; cover the container with a lid, leave in fridge overnight
• The next day, make the dipping sauce by combining the soy sauce, sesame  
• Cut the meat off the bones, slice the meat and served with the sauce.  Note – with high gelatin content, it may be easier to warm up the container in a microwave for 1-2 minutes so it is easier to cut. 
• Garnish with green shallot and sesame seedsif desired.