Make this Chinese style braised pork belly

Pork belly lovers, today is your lucky day! We are sharing a red hot favourite on the menu a Chinese style braised pork belly. It has perfectly balanced sweet and savoury flavours, with a melt in your mouth texture. It’s a great recipe to share with your family and celebrate the new year of the Cat/Rabbit.

Served with rice and steamed greens this dish is sure to be a winner with the whole family.

Ingredients

• 600g pork belly  
• 250ml Shaoxing rice wine, or cooking wine 
• 200g carrot, chunking diced 
• 200g potato, chucking diced 
• 200g fried bean curd, or hard bean curd, chucking diced  
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce 
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce  
• 5 slices ginger 
• 20g rock sugar, or 1 tablespoon of regular sugar 
• 2 star-anise 
• 2 cinnamon sticks 

Method

Blanch the pork 

• Cut pork belly into 2-3 cm chunks (about 1 inch). Put into a pot then fill with cold water. Boil over high heat. 
• Once it starts boiling, you’ll see froth appearing on the surface. Skim it off with a spoon. 
• Drain the meat in a colander then rinse under running water. 

Braise the pork 

• Put the pork into a clean pot. Pour in Shaoxing rice wine and hot water (barely covering the meat). Add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, ginger, star anise and cinnamon sticks. 
• Bring the liquid to a full boil. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer over low heat for 40mins  
• Add diced carrot and cook for 10 mins, then add diced potato and diced bean curd, and cook for a further 10 mins, or until the meat is tender and the vegetables are nearly cooked. (During the process stir it around a few times). 

Thicken the broth 

• Uncover the pot. Add sugar then turn the heat to the highest. Leave to boil fiercely (Stir from time to time) until the broth reduces to just enough to cover the bottom of the pot.  
• Serve with plain steamed rice. 

Please enjoy this dish with your family at home. It pairs well with steamed greens and makes for a colourful taste plate of food. Want to see more of the food that we serve at our centres, you can book a tour or send us a message.