Braised Pork Belly

Cut the fresh pork belly into chunks.

Chop the spring onion into sections and slice the ginger. Prepare 1 piece of star anise and 2 bay leaves.

Pour an appropriate amount of water into the pot, bring it to a boil, add the pork belly, and cook for about 3 minutes. Then remove.

This step is called blanching.

Remove the pork belly and drain the water.

Heat a small amount of oil in a non-stick pan. Once the oil is hot, add the blanched pork belly and sear until golden brown on both sides.

In a thicker non-stick pan, add a suitable amount of oil. Heat the oil to about 50% hot and add the rock sugar.

Stir-fry until the rock sugar melts and turns caramel-colored.

Add the seared pork belly and quickly stir-fry.

Add the ginger slices, spring onion sections, star anise, and bay leaves. Keep stir-frying and drizzle a small amount of cooking wine around the edge of the pan. Continue stir-frying.

Then add an appropriate amount of boiling water.

The water should cover the pork because it will simmer for a long time, so you need more water.

Add light soy sauce.

Add one tablespoon of dark soy sauce.

Add half a piece of rose fermented bean curd and a small amount of the fermented bean curd juice.

Bring it to a boil, then transfer to a claypot. Simmer over low heat for about 50 minutes. Stir the pork chunks occasionally, about every 15 minutes.

If you like braised eggs, this is the time to boil them in a separate pot.

This is what it looks like after 50 minutes of simmering—a thick and rich sauce.

Now you can turn up the heat to reduce the sauce.

Turn up the heat and stir quickly. Reduce the sauce to your preferred consistency. The braised pork belly is now ready.

The pork belly is not greasy at all—absolutely delicious.

Give it a try!