Braised Pork Belly 红烧猪腩肉

Pork belly (五花肉 or 猪腩肉) is a boneless cut of fatty meat from the belly of a pig. The pork belly is very popular in Chinese cuisine and it's used in Braised Pork Belly, crispy roast pork, etc.. The meat is usually diced, browned and then slowly braised with skin on. The pork is made extremely soft, succulent and tender. 

Many people have the hesitation to prepare this dish at home, thinking that it is tedious to prepare. It is a huge misconception. This simple recipe from Christine's Recipe cookbook only required a few ingredients that we will normally already have in our kitchen, if not, they are easily to obtain from the grocery shop.

Ingredients:

• 450g Pork belly
• 2 Cloves garlic, slices
• 2 Stalks spring onion or green shallots, sectioned
• 2 tsp Shaoxing wine (Chinese yellow rice wine)
• 18g rock sugar (if unavailable, can substitute with sugar)
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 cup or 240ml water
• 5 hard boiled eggs, shelled (please refer to my post on No Crack, Easy Peel Hard-Boiled Fresh Eggs: Steam Them, Not Boil！ "蒸"水煮鸡蛋)

  

Method:

• Diced the pork belly into cubes.

• Heat just a little oil in the pan as the fat from the pork will release some oil.

• Fry the pork until light brown on both sides.

• Fry garlic in the middle of the pan until aromatic.

• Add Shaoxing wine, light and dark soy sauce, water and rock sugar. Mix well and bring to boil.

Note: Rock sugar will give the pork a shiny look.

• When the sauce boils, add in the sectioned spring onion, cover and simmer until the pork soften and the sauce reduces by half (stir it occasionally)

• Add the eggs and continue to simmer until they turn brown.

Now, serve this soft, tender, scrumptious fatty pork belly in a savory and flovourful sauce with a bowl of steaming warm rice. Enjoy!

HAPPY BAKING AND COOKING!