Ingredients
Daikon kimchi
Roasted pork knuckles
To serve
Method
Daikon kimchi
1.You’ll need to complete steps 1-4 two weeks in advance: Place the first 11 ingredients in the food processor and blitz to a smooth paste. Set aside.
2.Mix the four cups of water and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Split the cabbage in half, then each half into quarters. Soak the cabbage in the salted water for 2-3 hours at room temperature, until slightly wilted.
3.Drain off the water, then place cabbage into a large mixing bowl. With clean hands, rub cabbage with half of the paste you made earlier. Add in the sliced carrot, daikon and spring onion, then add in remaining paste and rub into the vegetables thoroughly. Pack the vegetables (including any juices) into large pickling jars and seal tightly.
4.Keep the jar (or jars) at room temperature for two days, then move to the refrigerator. You want to see some light bubbling happening in the juices. The kimchi is best eaten after two weeks, and can be kept refrigerated indefinitely.
Roasted pork knuckles
5.Preheat your oven to 200°C. Take the pork knuckles and score the skin with a sharp knife every 5mm or so (I always use a Stanley knife for scoring tough pork skin). Rub liberal amounts of sea salt into the scored skin and season with a bit of black pepper. Place in an oven tray with a splash of oil and the water.
6.Pop in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes until the skin begins to bubble and crackle. Turn the heat down to about 140°C, and continue to cook for up to 2 hours. The hocks are ready when the meat pulls away from the bone with little or no resistance.
7.If the crackling hasn’t done its thing by the time the meat is ready, give the hocks another blast at 200°C for 10 minutes, or place under the grill until crisp and golden. Remove and let hocks cool slightly.
To serve
8.To serve, pour the water into a saucepan and place on medium/high heat to boil. Set bamboo steamer, or similar, on top of the saucepan and heat your buns in batches, for abouttwo minutes until soft and piping hot.
9.Take a knife and cut or pull the crackling from the pork knuckles, exposing the meat. Pull the meat from the bones and chop up any large pieces to a more manageable size;lightly season with sea salt. Chop up the crispiest cracking.
10.Gently open the steamed buns and fill with roasted pork and crackling, a little kimchi and a few coriander leaves.
