Braised pork belly with Chinese flavours

This is a dish to make in a large quantity for hungry friends on a chilly winter evening. Pork belly braises to a wonderfully melting texture, and soy sauce, garlic, ginger and other spices give a subtle background flavour. Chinese shops sell bags of ‘assorted spices’, usually weighing about 250g, which contain star anise, cassia or cinnamon, chilli, clove, dried ginger, fennel, dried tangerine peel and liquorice. In Chinese cooking, the spices are used to flavour a sauce for boiled meat. I