from Restaurant Kid
My favourite dish of all time—the dish I would choose to be my last meal—is my mum’s braised pork belly. It’s a total umami bomb I could eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! The fatty pork belly is braised with preserved vegetables in a rich, unctuous sauce I could drink by the salty, savoury spoonful. It’s perfect on top of a bed of steamed rice or eaten on a baguette or bun.
Ingredients
2.2 lb/1 kg pork belly
1 bag preserved vegetables *
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 ¼ tbsp sugar
1 ¼ tbsp dark soy sauce
3 ¼ tbsp oyster sauce
5 tbsp oil
2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
(You can find preserved vegetables in Asian markets. If that isn’t available, purchase a bag of frozen Asian mixed vegetables in your grocer’s freezer.
Directions
Rinse the vegetable thoroughly under running cool water to remove the sand and impurities. If using frozen vegetables, thaw thoroughly.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, roll the pork belly into a log with the skin side out and wrap kitchen twine around it.
Put the tied log into the boiling water and let it cook on medium heat for 2 hours or until soft.
Finely chop the vegetables.
When the meat is cooked, take it out and let it cool enough to remove the twine. Slice them into 1.5cm (0.6″) thick pieces, then cut each one in half or into thirds. Let it rest.
Heat a skillet on high. When hot, add 3 tbsp oil and down the heat to medium and cook half the garlic for 30 seconds.
Turn the heat back up to high and add the chopped vegetables.
Season with 1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder and 1 tbsp sugar, then stir for 5 minutes. Pour the contents into a dish for later.
Add 2 tbsp oil into the emptied pot and when hot, turn the heat to low.
Saute remaining garlic for 30 seconds, then turn the heat up to high and pour the sliced pork in. Let it sear on all sides for 3 minutes or until golden.
Season with the oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder and 3 1/4 tbsp oyster sauce, then stir until well combined.
Pour the cooked vegetables in and mix for 3 minutes. Let it simmer for another 15-20 minutes on low heat to absorb the flavor.
Serve immediately over rice.
Nada’s Tips & Tricks: You can change up this recipe with different vegetables and adjusting the seasonings/sauces. I’ve also had this with Udon or rice noodles.
Contents and images used with permission by author Rachel Phan. https://www.rachelphan.com/
