Mexican pork pibil

Pibil is a traditional slow-roasted pork dish that uses annatto, a paste made from the berries of the achiote tree, which gives it a beautiful deep red colour and earthy, peppery flavour. Annatto (also called achiote) is available from souschef.co.uk. Serves 6-8

Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus marinating

Cooking time: about 3 hours 35 minutes

1tbsp allspice berries

2tsp cumin seeds

1tsp black peppercorns

1 onion, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves

1 scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped

50g annatto paste

100ml white wine vinegar

Juice 4 oranges

1.6kg boneless pork shoulder

2 bay leaves

Corn tortillas, soured cream, avocado and coriander, to serve

For the pickled red onions (optional) 175ml white wine vinegar

3tbsp caster sugar 1tsp allspice berries

1/2tsp salt

1 bay leaf

2 red onions, thinly sliced

1 Heat a medium frying pan and dry fry the allspice berries, cumin seeds and peppercorns for a few min until fragrant. Transfer to a pestle and mortar and grind to a fine powder.

2 Put the spice powder in a food processor or blender with the onion, garlic, chilli and annatto paste and blend until finely chopped. Add the white wine vinegar and the orange juice and blend until combined.

3 Trim away the skin and excess fat

(leaving a thin layer) from the pork.

Cut the joint into four large pieces.

Put into a non-metallic bowl and pour over the marinade. Stir in the bay leaves. Cover, chill and marinate for at least 1hr or, ideally, overnight.

4 Preheat oven to 150°C (130°C fan) mark 2. Transfer pork and marinade to a large casserole. Heat on the hob, until simmering. Cover the casserole with a lid and transfer to the oven; cook for 2.5hr, basting the pork every now and again.

5 Remove the lid, increase the temperature to 170°C (150°C fan) mark 3 and continue to cook for 1hr until the pork is tender and the sauce has thickened.

6 Meanwhile, make the pickled onions, if you like. Put all ingredients apart from the onions into a small pan; heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and mix in onions. Leave for at least 1hr, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened.

7 Remove bay leaves from the pork. Using two forks, shred pork in the sauce and serve with tortillas, soured cream, avocado, coriander and pickled onions.