Red-Cooked Pork Belly Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees
A good red cooked pork recipe is a family treasure and this one is no exception. Kian learned to make this dish from his Aunt Hong and her recipe is the foundation for his, which has evolved over the years after much experimentation with parboiling and caramelizing, aromatic ingredients and spices.
For photos of how to recipe comes together, check out the body of the post.
Course Entree
Cuisine Chinese
Prep Time 20minutes
Cook Time 2hours
Total Time 2hours20minutes
Servings 4Appetizers, or 2 main course
Calories 312kcal
Author Kian Lam Kho
Ingredients
1 1/2poundspork belly
2tablespoonssugar
3clovesgarlicpeeled
2wholescallionscut into 2-inch-long pieces
3wholestar anise
2tablespoonsdark soy sauce
1tablespoonsoy sauce
1/4cupShaoxing cooking wine
1 1/2cupsliquid from the parboiling stepor whatever stock you have handy, plus more as needed
Cooked ricefor serving
Chopped scallions and cilantro sprigsfor topping
Instructions
Put the entire pork belly in a stockpot containing enough water to cover the meat completely. Bring the water to a boil, and then turn the heat to medium. Parboil the pork belly uncovered for 20 minutes. Continuously skim off the scum that forms on top of the water. Drain and cool the pork belly. Then cut it into pieces about 1 1/2-inches square.
Melt the sugar and 3 tablespoons water in a wok over medium heat. Continue heating until the sugar just begins to turn yellow. Add the cubed pork belly to the wok and brown it with the caramelized sugar. Stir the meat regularly to prevent burning. Cover the wok with a splatter guard to prevent the fat from splattering.
Add the garlic, scallion, star anise, dark soy sauce, wine and stock to the wok. Bring the liquid to a boil, and then transfer to a covered clay pot. Simmer over low heat, stirring the meat every 15 minutes to prevent scorching the pork at the bottom, for about 1 hour or until the meat is tender when pierced with a knife.
Remove the meat and put in a bowl. Reduce the sauce over medium-high heat until it reaches the desired consistency. Return the meat to the wok and reheat before serving.
Serve over cooked rice, topped with chopped scallions and cilantro sprigs.
Notes
* Serve with rice or in steamed buns, topped with julienned scallions and some cilantro sprigs. * While the cooking time on this recipe says 2 hours, most of that time is hands-off cooking time and requires very little work. This is more of a weekend recipe, given the amount of time it needs to braise. * This dish serves 4 as an appetizer, or 2 as a main course when paired with a vegetable dish.Nutritional anaysis is based on 4 appetizer portions