Family recipes: red braised pork

When I was a child, my favourite dish was this red braised pork 红烧肉. I loved it so much my nickname was "Carnivore" 食肉动物. I can understand my dad's confusion many years later when I spent years being vegetarian - how could I deviate so far from my favourite food?

Though I've lived on my own now for almost 20 years and cook most of my meals, I've never triedaking this dish - maybe secretly I only ever want my dad to make it for me.

But how do we capture this dish, a little token of love? here it is, a little oral history and family history, my dad's own way of cooking this dish.

Brown an onion and 1-2 chillies depending on preferred spiciness
Add cubes of pork leg roast to pan and toss to brown
Add ~3tbsp each of dark soy sauce and shaoxing rice wine, along with some sugar. Star anise or Sichuan peppercorns can also be added.
Wait till the pork is nicely coloured, then top up with water till the pork is coloured.
Bring to boil then simmer on lowest heat for 1hr
Add vegetables (potato, radish, lotus root), hard tofu or soft boiled eggs towards end of cooking
Once done open the lid and reduce sauce on high heat till it sticks to the dish