This month’s Local Food Promotion winner is…
ANNE HUANG
This is my Shanghai style red braised pork belly!
We had some local pork belly that we got from Flat Creek Farms, left over from our Easter dinner and instead of the usual recipes of roasting it I wanted to show how we can add a touch of Chinese flair to local produce!
This is one of my favorite recipes and very common in China. It's 100% authentic but really easy to make.
Ingredients
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1 Pork Belly
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6 slices of ginger
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4 garlic cloves
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3 bay leaves
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1 cinnamon stick
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2 star anise (or a small pinch of anise seed)
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1 green onion
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3 dried chilies (optional)
Instructions
- Place pork belly and 6 slices of ginger into a large pan. Cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Take out and place on a cutting board.
- Heat a large pan or wok, add oil, add three slices of ginger, 4 cloves garlic, three bay leaves, one cinnamon stick, two whole star anise (or, a small pinch of anise seeds), one green onion and three dried chillies (optional).
- Stir fry the herbs and spices until the oil is fragrant - you'll be able to smell it!
- Slice the pork into cubes and add into the wok with the fragrant oil. Brown the pork and add in 4 cups of cold water.
- Heat this on high heat for 10 minutes.
- Lower the heat down to a simmer, add one tablespoon of dark soy, 6 tablespoons of light soy, two tablespoons of rice vinegar and three tablespoons of brown sugar.
- Simmer for an hour until the meat is tender.
- Remove the cooked meat and place in serving dish. Thicken the sauce a little by cranking up the heat so the sauce starts to boil. Here, at this point you can taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning (add more salt, some more vinegar, more sugar) to your taste.
Serve with rice for an authentic Chinese meal!
