Dong Po Rou is pork belly cooked in light and dark soy sauces, Chinese cooking wine, spring onion, ginger, cinnamon stick, star anise, brown sugar and water. I seldom use cinnamon stick and star anise in my day-to-day cooking except when I am cooking curry. However, when I use them to cook the pork belly, these ingredients plus the Chinese cooking wine give out a very distinctive sweet aroma
Ingredients:
- 450 g pork belly
- 50 g spring onion
- 2 inches of ginger, sliced
- 1 piece of 5 inch long cinnamon stick
- 2 small pieces of star anise
- 30 g brown sugar
- 150 g light soy sauce
- 100 g Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing Huatiao Chiew)
- 15-20 g dark soy sauce (Dish will be bitter if more is added.)
- Water, approx 500 g
Method:
- Use a knife to scrape the skin of the pork belly to remove any impurities.
- Remove any hair from the skin of the pork belly. Wash the pork belly.
- Boil a pot of water. When the water has boiled, put the pork belly into the pot skin side down.
- Lower the heat and blanch the pork for about 10 minutes.
- Remove any scum that floats up to the surface.
- Once the time is up, remove the pork belly and rinse it under running water.
- Cut the pork into cubes of at least 2 inches by 2 inches.
- Tie the cubes with butcher's string. This is to prevent the pork belly from falling apart as it will be cooked till very soft (melt in the mouth). Set aside.
- Prepare a pot to cook the pork belly.
- Cut the spring onions into 6-inch length.
- Line the spring onions on the bottom of the pot. This is to prevent the skin of the pork belly from sticking to the pot.
- Next add the ginger slices to the pot.
- Arrange the pork belly on top of the spring onion skin side down.
- Add brown sugar to the pot.
- Add cinnamon sticks and star anise to the pot.
- Add Chinese cooking wine (Shiaoxing Huatiao Chiew) to the pot.
- Add light soy sauce to the pot.
- Add dark soy sauce.
- Add water, enough to cover the pork belly.
- Cover the pot and cook the pork belly over low-medium heat for at least 20 hours. Check every now and then to ensure that the pot does not dry up. Add water if required.
- When the melt-in-the-mouth texture is achieved (approx. 2 hours), reduce the sauce in the pot till about 1 inch is left.
- Remove the pork belly from the pot and remove the butcher's string.
- Gently arrange the pork belly on a serving dish with some sauce on it.
- Serve with rice.