Vietnamese-Style Christmas Ham

Charmaine Lu -
  • 2 tsp grated garlic
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 diced red chilli
  • 1 lime, zest and juice
  • 100ml fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 4 star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 5kg cooked half-leg ham, on the bone
  • Cloves
  • Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the garlic, ginger, lime zest, chilli, soy, fish sauce, star anise, sugar and cinnamon with 120ml of water and heat in a saucepan until slightly reduced and syrupy. Stir in the lime juice. Remove the skin from the ham and trim off any excess fat, then score the ham in a criss-cross pattern. Stud with cloves all over.
  • Place the ham on a baking tray and baste generously with the reduced syrup. Place the ham in the oven and cook for 30 mins, basting every 10 mins or so with more syrup. When heated through, remove from the oven and baste one more time, then serve with all your favourite sides.
30 mins
8 serving