← Nouns Cooking · Chinese

Ingredients

• 500 g skin-on pork belly, cut into 1 cm strips or small dice
• 6 Shallot, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves Garlic, minced
• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and diced (optional)
• 4 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
• 30 g rock sugar or brown sugar
• 1 Star anise
• ½ tsp Chinese five-spice
• ¼ tsp White pepper
• 500 ml hot water
• 4 Eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
• 600 g hot cooked rice
• 4 blanched greens, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Fry the shallots in the oil in a heavy pot over medium heat for 6–8 min, stirring often, until golden and crisp. Lift them out with a slotted spoon.
2. Add the pork to the shallot oil and cook over medium-high heat for 5 min, until the fat starts to render and the meat is lightly browned. Add the garlic and mushrooms and stir for 1 minute.
3. Splash in the wine, then add both soy sauces, the sugar, star anise, five-spice, pepper, half the fried shallots and the hot water. Bring to the boil.
4. Tuck in the peeled eggs, cover and simmer on low heat for 1 hour 15 min, stirring now and then, until the pork is meltingly soft and the sauce is glossy and thick. Add a splash of water if it gets dry; turn the eggs halfway so they colour evenly.
5. Stir in the rest of the shallots. Spoon the pork and plenty of sauce over bowls of rice and add a halved egg and some greens to each.

Tips

• Hand-cut belly gives the best texture; minced pork works for a quicker version (cut the simmer to 40 minutes).
• The braise keeps for days in the fridge and freezes well.

Sources

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

Omnivore's Cookbook Taste of Asian Food What To Cook Today