Chinese five spice quail with a honey-soy glaze

The recipe below is enough to season a single quail.

Ingredients:

1 quail, wings and neck removed
3 cloves
2 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick, snapped into shards
1 tbs whole Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 tsp ginger powder
2 tbs honey
1 tsp soy sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C.



Using a mortar and pestle, grind up two of the cloves, one of the star anise pods, the Sichuan peppercorns, the ginger powder and all but one of the cinnamon shards. Rub this spice mix all over the quail. Stuff the cavity with the remaining clove, star anise pod and cinnamon shard. Place quail on a lightly oiled oven tray and roast for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine honey and soy sauce. Remove quail from the oven and baste generously in with the honey-soy glaze, before returning to the oven for a further ten minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

Pork belly with an oriental marinade

I love, love, love pork belly. It's fatty, it's cheap, it's really lovely sliced up and cooked over a coal fire. My favourite cut of the pig, easy.

1 kilogram slab pork belly
stick of lemongrass
two or three spring onions
a small lump of ginger
three or four garlic cloves, peeled
rice wine (I used some cheap Korean sake I had kicking around, but the stuff that's sold specially for cooking would work equally well)
a few springs of fresh coriander (cilantro)
ground Sichuan pepper, to taste
ground coriander seeds, to taste
sea salt, to taste

Throw all the dry ingredients into a food processor and blitz. Gradually add the rice wine until you form a paste. Set aside to let the flavours develop. Use a paring knife to make shallow incisions all over the pork belly before cutting it into small strips. Rub the marinade into the pork belly, cover with cling film and keep in the refrigerator until a hour before cooking.

Cook under the broiler or over a coal fire. Cook over a medium and even heat until done.

Tips and ideas:

Try adding some citrus--perhaps kaffir lime--to the marinade. Use both the zest and the juice.