Tung Po Pork with Watercress and Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork belly
• 1 tbsp peanut oil
• 2 cm piece of ginger, thinly sliced
• 50 gm rock sugar (see note)
• 185 ml light soy sauce (¾ cup)
• 1 tbsp mushroom soy sauce (see note)
• 125 ml Shaoxing wine (½ cup)
• 2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon quill
• 2 pieces of dried mandarin peel (see note)
• 100 gm shiitake mushrooms
• 10 gm dried black cloud ear mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 5 minutes to rehydrate (see note)
• To serve: steamed red rice (see note)
• Siamese watercress and cucumber salad
• 1 tbsp tahini or Chinese sesame paste
• 1 cm piece of ginger, finely grated
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1½ tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 bunch of Siamese watercress (see note)
• 1 telegraph cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds removed, then halved widthways and sliced lengthways
• To serve: sesame seeds