Chinese Braised Pork Belly
i was still craving chinese food and one of my favorite dishes that i miss quite a lot is hong shao rou or dong po rou, which is basically braised pork belly cooked in a sweet dark sauce. so i decided to give it a try for the first time and it actually came out quite well.
Braised pork belly (红烧猪肉）
Recipe adapted from Easy Recipes- A Selection of Simple Classics by Christine Ho
serving: 4
Ingredients:
550-600g pork belly
1-2 clove garlic, sliced
3 stalks spring onion, sectioned
3 tsp shaoxing wine
25g light soy sauce
3 tsp dark soy sauce
1-1.5 cups water
4 hard boiled eggs, shelled
Method:
Cut the pork into cubes of 1 to 1.5 inch size.
heat a little oil in a pan or deep pot (like a casserole stock pot), as the pork will release some oil. Fry pork until light brown. Add garlic in the middle and cook until aromatic. Add wine, light and dark soy sauce, water and rock sugar*. Bring it to a boil.
When the sauce boils, add the spring onion, cover and simmer until the pork softens and the sauce reduces by half (it took about 45 minutes). add the eggs and continue to simmer until they turn brown (another 10-15 minutes). if you like a smoother and clearer sauce, sift the garlic and spring onion away through a fine sieve. Serve hot.
*By adding a small block of rock sugar, the sauce will give the pork a shiny look.