This Special Ingredient Makes The Best Chinese Braised Pork Belly
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Servings
4
Today, I'm excited to introduce a new ingredient that we'll be using to make the best braised pork belly. This easy recipe is bursting with flavors and is melt-in-your-mouth tender. You can enjoy it atop any plain foundation or sandwich it between fluffy white steamed buns. With no exaggeration, once you try it, you'll fall in love with it.
Meigancai is a specialty from Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Yes, it's the Shaoxing of Shaoxing wine. It is made of fermented mustard greens, then repeatedly dehydrated and steamed until it accumulates distinctive, salty, and savory flavors and aromas, which makes this dish addictively delicious. You can buy it from Asian markets or click here to purchase it online.
Author:Souped Up Recipes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of pork belly
- 3 slices of ginger
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 2 shallots
- 3 scallions
- 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 Tbsps of rock sugar
- 1/3 cup of Shaoxing wine
- 4 Tbsps of light soy sauce
- 2 Tbsps of dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
- 3.5 cups of water
- 100g / 3.5 oz Meigancai
Directions
Soak the meigancai in clean water for 1 hour. Set it aside while you work on other ingredients.
- Slice the pork belly into 1/3 of an inch thick slabs first. Stack the slabs and dice the pork into 1/3 of an inch thick pieces. Make sure you use skin-on pork belly because the gelatin will make the sauce thick and sticky.
- Turn the heat to high and heat the wok to smoking hot. Drizzle 1/2 Tbsp of oil to lubricate the wok. Then add the pork belly. Spread it out and cook for about 5 minutes or until there is about 1/4 cup of pork lard is rendered out. You don't have to stir it constantly, maybe once every minute.
- Once you get a generous amount fat in the wok, turn off the heat. Push the pork to the side and let the oil run to one side. Use a spoon to remove some fat so your dish will not come out too oily.
- Add 3 slices of ginger, 5 cloves of garlic, 2 shallots, and 3 scallions into a blender and chop finely.
- Add the chopped aromatics to the wok along with 1 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, and 3 bay leaves. Turn the heat back to medium and stir until the aromatics are fragrant.
- Pour in 1/3 cup of Shaoxing wine and stir to deglaze the bottom. Although you could use rice wine, but Shaoxing wine makes this dish more authentic.
- Season it with 4 Tbsps of light soy sauce, 2 tbsps of dark soy sauce, some ground white pepper to taste, and 3 Tbsps of rock sugar. Rock sugar is refined and re-crystalized from regular sugar. It won't affect the taste, so you can use the same amount of table sugar instead.
- Pour in 3.5 cups of water. Turn the heat to high and bring it to boil. Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 40 minutes.
- The meigancai should be done soaking. Pour the water and rinse it several times to remove the sodium. Squeeze to eliminate the excess water.
- Add the meigancai to the pork belly and continue to braise for 1 more hour or until the pork is tender.
- Pick out the spices and check the consistency of the sauce. If the sauce still looks a bit thin, crank up the heat and reduce the sauce until thick. Please be aware that high galatin and sugar content sauce burns easily so you must stir constantly. Give it a taste to adjust the flavor because every brand of maigancai has different sodium level.
- You can serve this dish with plain noodles or white rice. I also like to stuff it in between a white steamed bun, which you can replace with white toast. Take a bite, emm, it is to die for.
- Here is a meal-prepping tip: I like to make this dish in bulk amounts and portion it into single servings. It stays good in the freezer for a few months and it reheats really well in the microwave. Whenever I don't want to cook, I will take one out of the freezer, and it will be ready in 5 minutes.
