BRAISED PORK BELLY

INGREDIENTS

3 Tbs sunflower oil

500g pork belly

35g ginger, chopped into 1cm-thick slices

25g garlic, unpeeled and lightly pounded

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

25g rock sugar

190g dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked for 45 minutes and cut into half

2 Tbs light soya sauce

2 Tbs dark soya sauce

1 Tbs Chinese rice wine (hua tiao jiu)

4 eggs, hard boiled and peeled

500ml water

METHOD

1. Heat a wok on high heat and add sunflower oil.

2. When oil sizzles, place pork belly into wok. Fry on all sides for 3 to 5 minutes in total until it turns light brown. Set aside to cool.

3. With the reserved oil in the wok, saute the ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick and star anise for 5 minutes till fragrant.

4. Add lightly fried pork belly into wok and fry for 10 minutes on medium meat. Mix the meat well with other ingredients.

6. Add rock sugar and mushrooms and fry for 5 minutes.

7. Pour light and dark soya sauces and Chinese rice wine into wok and fry for 5 minutes.

8. Add peeled hard boiled eggs into wok on high heat.

9. Pour in 250ml of water and cover the wok to let mixture boil for 10 minutes.

10. Transfer contents into a claypot.

11. Add 250ml of water into claypot and let it simmer for at least an hour. Stir contents occasionally and add water into claypot if the ingredients dry up.

12. Set aside to cool and before serving, slice the pork into 1cm-thick slices and serve with rice.

Serves four to six