Braised pork is a stable in Taiwanese cuisine. It’s a delicious condiment that goes with rice, noodles, or just greens. I remember when my sister and I were children, we would eat bowls of rice with just braised pork. Every household has their own way making it. Some uses ground pork, some sweeter than others. It also depends on the region you come from, some add different additional ingredients to it. My mom used to add hard boiled eggs, fried tofu, firm tofu cubes, and seaweed to the braised pork pot to make side dishes. Because it is easy to make, it becomes a go to dish for Moms and street venders in Taiwan. It’s been years since I last had it. To be honest, I don’t even remember what my mom’s braised pork tasted like anymore, but once a while, I do crave the saltiness and fattiness of pork belly.
Ingredients
1 lb Pork Belly
3 medium Shallot diced
2 Scallion minced
3 Garlic minced
2 Tsp Neutral Oil
1 Tsp Oyster Sauce
1 Tsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 Tsp Dark Brown Sugar
Enough Water to cover
Cut Pork Belly
Wash pork belly thoroughly to rid of any impurity. Use paper towel to dry. Before cutting pork belly, I recommend putting it in the freezer for half an hour. Not to freeze it, but to firm the meat and fat up a little for easy slicing. Pork belly needs to be thawed before this step. If pork belly is fresh out from the freezer (aka, still frozen), it is not ready.
Place pork belly skin side down, long side parallel to the bottom of the chopping board. Use a sharp knife, cut ⅓ inch vertically into pork belly. Once you reach to the last piece, take the last piece, put it on the chopping board skin side parallel to the bottom of the chopping board, cut ⅓ inch vertically again. You should have long strips of pork belly, that's square from looking from the top. Set aside.
Instruction
1. In a pot, add 2 Tsp oil to fry shallot and garlic in medium heat till fragrant. We are only trying to add flavor to the oil so once you can smell shallot and garlic, remove them from pot. Do not burn. Set aside for later.
2. Add pork belly to the same pot, med-high heat, with the oil we just fried shallot and garlic with till edges become golden brown. At first, water will come out of pork belly, you can see and smell it, which is not a very pleasant smell, it is okay, just let it cook out. The water will evaporate. After that, pork fat starts to come out and that it is what we want. This process is going to take a while so be patient.
3. Once pork fat is bubbling, add brown sugar. The heat will melt the sugar and coat pork belly in a nice caramel color.
4. Add scallions, shallot, and garlic to the mixture, use a spatula to mix together for 1 minute. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce, stir and mix everything. Add just enough water to cover pork belly. Turn heat to high till boil, then simmer and cover for 2 hours.
5. After 2 hours, taste for salt to see if any adjustment is needed. If not, it is ready to serve over a bowl of steamy rice.
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