← Nouns Cooking · Chinese

Ingredients

• 700 g skin-on pork belly, cut into 2.5 cm cubes
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp rock sugar or white sugar
• 4 slices Ginger
• 3 Spring onion, cut into 5 cm lengths
• 2 Star anise
• 80 ml Shaoxing wine
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
• 500 ml hot water
• 1 Cinnamon stick (optional)
• 3 Dried chillies (optional)

Method

1. Put the pork in a pan of cold water, bring it to the boil and blanch for 3 min to clean it. Drain, rinse and pat the cubes very dry.
2. Heat the oil and sugar in a wok or heavy pot over low heat, stirring now and then, until the sugar melts into an amber caramel, about 4–5 min. Watch it closely: dark brown is bitter.
3. Add the pork (stand back, it spits) and turn the heat to medium. Toss for 3–4 min until every piece is coated and lightly browned.
4. Add the ginger, spring onion, star anise and the cinnamon and chillies (if using). Pour in the Shaoxing wine, both soy sauces and the hot water so the pork is just covered.
5. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so and adding a splash of water if it gets dry. The pork is ready when a chopstick slides in easily.
6. Take off the lid, turn the heat to high and reduce for 8–10 min, stirring often, until the sauce thickens into a sticky glaze that coats the pork. Fish out the aromatics and serve with rice and greens.

Tips

• Leaving the skin on gives the classic wobbly, gelatinous bite.
• Hard-boiled eggs simmered in the sauce for the last 30 minutes make a great extra.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Omnivore's Cookbook The Woks of Life