Pork rib broth with soft rice noodles

For the marinade: pound the red shallots in a mortar and pestle until ground to a paste.

In a large mixing bowl combine the ground shallots, salt, sugar, fish sauce and garlic. Add the chopped pork and rub the marinade well into the meat. Marinate overnight or for at least 2 hours.

Next day, grill the dried baby squid until crisp.

Put the grilled squid and marinated pork ribs in a large stockpot with the peppercorns and white spring onions and cover with 5 litres of water.

Bring to the boil, then skim off any impurities for 10 minutes or until the stock is clear. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover with a lid and cook for 2 hours.

Stir in the salt, sugar, fish sauce and garlic and cook for a further 10 minutes, then take the pot off the heat.

In another large pot, bring some water to the boil, add the noodles and blanch for 10 seconds, then drain.

To serve, divide the noodles between 10 serving bowls (about 200g per bowl), then add about 4 pieces of pork rib to each bowl and ladle over the pork broth.

To each bowl add some bean sprouts, spring onions, garlic chives, mint leaves, coriander leaves, a sprinkle of fried garlic chips and fried red Asian shallots, a pinch of ground pepper, a little sliced chilli and a squeeze of lime.