Chinese Braised Pork Belly
Making the tender, melts in your mouth Chinese braised pork belly only requires just three simple steps in your kitchen.
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Servings: 2
Calories: 2204kcal
Ingredients
- 800 g pork belly cut into 3-4 cm thick pieces
- 1/2 cup Chinese rice wine
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce for colouring, optional
- 4 star anise
- 4-5 slices ginger
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Instructions
- Parboiling — Bring water to a boil in a saucepan. Put the pork into the saucepan and boil for 5 minutes. Discard the hot water and wash the gunk off the pork with cold water.
- Braising — Place pork belly, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, sugar and star anise in the saucepan. Add water to barely cover the meat. Lower heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and continue braising for about 60 minutes.
- Caramelising — turn to high heat, remove the cover, and let the liquid evaporate and thicken. Turn and mix the pork to make sure the meat is covered evenly. You should end up with a thick, glistening sauce that covers the tender pork belly.
Notes
- Pork Belly: While fresh pork belly is the top choice, frozen options can work too. Just ensure it's completely thawed before you start cooking.
- Soy Sauce: In this recipe, we use two types of soy sauce: light soy sauce (also known as normal soy sauce) and dark soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is less salty than the light version, primarily used for adding color. You can caramelize sugar to achieve that rich, appetizing hue on the meat.
- Start Anise: If you want to make the flavor even stronger, go ahead and add more star anise. The recipe begins with 4, but I usually use 7-8 to really boost the taste.
Nutrition
Calories: 2204kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 212g | Saturated Fat: 77g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 23g | Monounsaturated Fat: 99g | Cholesterol: 288mg | Sodium: 1890mg | Potassium: 867mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 46IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 4mg