Dong Po Pork Belly
By: Quay Po Cooks
Published: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 12:59am

Ingredients




500 gm (about 1 pound) Pork belly
5 slices of ginger
3 nutmeg (cracked)
3 star anise
20 gm lotus seeds, soaked overnight
2 medium white onion, peeled and sliced
30 gm (about an ounce) rock sugar
1 tablespoon thick black sauce
150 milliliters (about 1/2 cup plus a dash more) Chinese cooking wine, (hua tiao)
350 milliliters (1.5 cups) Chicken stock

Preparation

1 Cut pork belly into cubes and use the broad side of knife to pat and smoothen skin. Blanch pork belly in boiling water. Drain and pat dry, set aside.  Put all ingredients into a clay pot and fill with chicken stock.  Bring to boil over high heat and let simmer for 3 hours until pork belly is soft and fragrant.  Dish out the pork belly and place them on the serving plate.  Turn heat to medium and reduce sauce to half. Pour sauce over pork belly and serve.

About


This dish is usually served with “Mantou” Chinese steam buns in most Chinese Restaurants. Some even serve deep fry “Mantou” instead of steam ones. Needless to say, anyone would love to eat this with plain rice and no side dish necessary. The gravy in this dish is what makes it so special. The flavor is addictive and once you start eating, you do not want to stop haha. At least it did that to all of us that evening. You will be surprised that the fat in the belly is actually quite tasty after long hours of stewing. It is not oily anymore but crunchy to the teeth. Don't believe me, try it just once even if you do not like fat.