Simon Majumdar - Chinese-Style "Red Cooked" Belly Pork (2024)

Chinese-Style "Red Cooked" Belly Pork Recipe

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of Belly Pork (with the skin and fat left on)

• 4 Cloves Garlic (Peeled and roughly chopped)

• 2 Inches of Fresh Ginger (half roughly chopped and half grated)

• 3 Star Anise

• 3 Dry Red Chilies

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• 1 Teaspoon Black Peppercorns

• 2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce

• 1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce

• 4 Tablespoons Shoaxing Wine (or dry sherry)

• 1 Tablespoon Palm Sugar (or brown sugar)

• 1 Tablespoon White Vinegar (this is not traditional, but I like the slight tang it gives to the final

• result)

• 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

• 2 Cups of Water (or stock. I used the broth from a hot & sour soup I had made the day before)

• ½ Cup Sliced Green Onions

Instructions

1. Fill a saucepan large enough to hold the pork belly with enough water to cover it completely.

2. Add half the garlic & ginger to the water along with one of the star anise, all of the peppercornsand one of the dry red chilies.

3. Bring the water to the boil and place the pork belly in the aromatic liquid.

4. Boil the pork belly for about 5 minutes. This will remove a lot of the impurities from the porkand you will see a film of scum on the surface.

5. Remove the pork belly and allow to cook on a plate or rack. When it is cool, cut the belly porkinto long strips about ½ in thick and then divide these into 1-inch pieces.

6. Discard the water.

7. Take a wok or a deep sided frying pan (for which you have a lid) and heat the vegetable oil.

8. Add the grated ginger, the chopped garlic, the star anise and the red chilies and cook gently for 2minutes.

9. Add the belly pork pieces.

10. Add the two soy sauces, the vinegar, the sugar, the rice wine (or sherry) the water (or stock) andcook until all of the sugar has dissolved in the liquid.

11. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer gently for around forty minutes.

12. After this time, remove the lid and continue to cook until the liquid has reduced to a thick sauce,which coats the belly pork.

13. Add in the sliced green onions just before serving.

14. Serve over plain boiled rice or with steamed greens. I particularly like this with simple steamedbroccoli, which adds texture and crunch to the dish.