Braised Pork Belly

Braise, required a combination of two steps - searing and stewing. Searing helps to make the meat texture to be more 'spongy' and give a nice colour. Stewing helps to soften the meat and enhance the flavour. The longer you braise, the more intense is the flavour.

This version of the braised pork is modified from my mom's recipe. The original version, which is my mom's version, is very simple. It uses a lot of garlic and soy sauce. Then, tint with some dark soya sauce to colour. Simple and delicious.

Now, let me share with you on the ingredients:

• Pork belly
• Garlic & Onion
• 5 spices powder
• Sage powder 
• Anise star (1~2 biji)
• Clove (3~4 biji)
• Pepper 
• 2 tbsp Chinese rice wine 
• 1-2 tbsp Light soy sauce (生抽)
• 2-3 tbsp Dark soy sauce ( 老抽）
• A dash of Tea leaves
• A dash of fish sauce
• Salt to adjust saltiness

Here's the cooking part:

1. Heat up clay pot.
2. Add in some oil. I use grapeseed oil, about 2~3 tbsp.
3. Put in Onion first, then garlic. Fry until fragrance.
4. Pour in pork belly and continue searing until caramelized. Sear under high heat.
5. Put in 5 spice powder, sage powder and pepper and lightly pan-fry.
6. Add in water immediately to avoid the spices be burned.
7. Add in water bit by bit. Bring to boil.
8. Add in dash of soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, anise star and cloves.
9. Stew for 1 hour. Add in tea leaves and stew for another 1 hour.

During stewing, check regularly on the heat and moisture level. Watch out not to dry up the base.

As i use claypot, hence, it 2 hours to achieve the 'melt in the mouth' texture. I have added tea leaves into this recipe as I find it help to reduce the greasiness. 

As for the spices, you can adjust the taste to your like and preferences. I find sage flavour matches the taste very pleasantly. My recommendation is 1:1 for 5 spices powder and sage.

Hope you like it.

Fry onion and garlic until fragrance

Then, add in the pork and sear till brown

Braise with low heat

Ready and grab a bowl of rice