Melt-in-Your-Mouth Braised Pork with Chestnuts (Rice Cooker Version)

Preparation: 500g pork belly, 1 scallion, 4 slices of ginger, a bowl of chestnut kernels

Preparation: Light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, rock sugar, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, dried chili peppers, bay leaves

Wash the pork belly and cut into small pieces

Blanch in cold water with 2 slices of ginger and 2 tbsp cooking wine. Remove scum, drain the pork, and set aside.

Heat a little oil in a pan, add ginger slices, scallion segments, star anise, bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, and dried chili peppers. Stir-fry until fragrant.

Remove the stir-fried aromatics and place them in the rice cooker pot. Leave the oil in the pan for later use.

Add the drained pork belly to the pan and stir-fry over high heat until lightly browned. Reduce to medium heat and slowly render out the fat (be careful of oil splatter). Fry until the pork is golden brown, then remove and set aside. The rendered fat can be saved for other dishes.

Add a little oil to the pan, then add rock sugar and stir-fry over low heat to caramelize.

Stir the rock sugar occasionally to prevent burning. Keep the heat low.

When the sugar melts and turns light caramel in color, add the pork and quickly stir-fry to coat each piece. Add 3 tbsp light soy sauce and 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, stir-fry a few more times, then pour in half a small bowl of water and reduce the sauce.

Reduce the sauce to this consistency, then the pork is ready to be transferred to the rice cooker pot.

Place the pork in the rice cooker pot, add a small bowl of water (just enough to cover the pork), cover, and press the cook button to braise the pork using the normal rice-cooking mode.

Wash the chestnut kernels. If using raw chestnuts, blanch for a few minutes and peel before use.

Most rice cookers take 30-45 minutes to cook. Once the timer ends, open the rice cooker. The braised pork should now be tender and gelatinous. Add a little salt and the chestnuts, mix well, cover and cook for another 15 minutes on the rice-cooking setting. Manually stop the rice cooker when done, and serve.

The braised pork from the rice cooker is incredibly tender and melts in your mouth.

Loved by both adults and children.