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Braised Pork Belly

All cooks who consider themselves decent at cooking Chinese food will probably all have their own way of making this dish. It’s a classic cook-by-feeling type of dish.

Ingredients

  • Two strips of pork belly
  • 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
  • Salt and white ground pepper to taste
  • 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup of rice wine
  • 1/2 tablespoons of corn starch
  • 3 star anise
  • 5 Red chili peppers (the dry kind)
  • 1 inch of ginger, chopped
  • 1 head of garlic, smashed
  • 2 stalks of green onions
  • 1 tablespoon of LaoGanMa

Tips:

  • The amounts of each flavoring ingredients are all up to you; I like to go by the smell!
  • The most important ingredient in this dish is time; so be patient. The longer you cook it, the more tender and soft it will be. If you like your meat to have more texture and structure, cook it for shorter.
  • You can use leaner pork for this recipe if you’re not a huge fat fan.
  • Do not skimp on the ginger or garlic.

How to serve:

  • This dish is best served over Jasmine white rice.

Directions:

  • In a large shallow pot, bring water to boil; estimate for it to be 1 inch above the pork belly
  • Place 1/2 stalk of green onions, 2 small slices of ginger and pork belly into the pot and boil for 2-3 minutes
  • Skim the top of the pot; this will get rid of all the impurities
  • Strain the pork belly and set aside the liquid
  • Rinse and wipe down the original shallow pot
  • Heat up the pot over low heat and add the brown sugar and vegetable oil; cook until the sugar and the oil completely mixes together and the mixture is a gold brown color
  • GENTLY place the pork belly one by one into the pot; the oil will splash so be very careful
  • Turn up the fire to medium and coat the pork belly evenly for about 2 minutes
  • Add the low sodium soy sauce, corn starch, star anise, red chili peppers, ginger, garlic, the other stalk of green onions, and laoganma; cook for 3-4 minutes
  • Add 2 cups of the blanching liquid that you set aside
  • Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the heat to medium-low
  • Put the lid back on and simmer for 2 hours; stir occasionally
  • Uncover the lid and cook for 15 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated; stir occasionally 
  • Garnish with more chopped green onions (optional)
  • Ready to serve