Dong Po Rou （东坡肉）

Dong Po Rou （东坡肉）– wine braised pork belly. It’s rich and savoury, tender that melts into your mouth. Traditionally, the pork belly is pan-fried before being braised or stewed for one to one and a half hours on low heat. Some of the recipes even call for steaming for an additional half an hour after stewing. It is very time-consuming.

But as you are aware, I enjoy making recipes simpler without compromising the taste. You, too, I'm sure. Therefore, I skipped the pan-frying step and proceeded directly to braising the pork after blanching it, and then continued to cook with a pressure cooker. Don't worry; the dish's flavour remains unaffected. I'm hoping this simplified method may come in handy for your regular cooking.

Trim off the edges of the pork and cut it into 3x3 cubes. Tie cooking twine around each cube. This will assist the cubes in keeping their form while cooking. If the pork that you bought is at the mid portion of the belly is ideal, there is a nice balance between lean and fat. If you use the bottom part, the soft part, just like the type I am using for this recipe, it is easy to fall apart. I tie it up with the cooking twine to maintain the shape.

 

INGREDIENTS

700g pork belly

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 stalk of scallion

30g sliced ginger

50g rock sugar

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

250ml Shaoxing wine

125ml light soy sauce

4 tbsp dark soy sauce

Enough water to cover the pork

 

For blanching

1 thumb size sliced ginger

1 stalk spring onion

2 tbsp Chinese Shaoxing wine

Enough water to cover the pork

 

Cornstarch slurry (mixed well)

2 tsp corn flour

5 tbsp water

 

METHOD

1. Clean the pork belly and place it in a wok with water, Shaoxing wine, and ginger slices. Blanch for 30 minutes over high heat, then remove, wash and drain.

2. Trim the edges of the pork belly to get a nice cube cut later. Cut pork belly into 3"x3" cubes. Tie each cube up with cooking twine.

3. Heat up the cooking oil into the wok at medium heat, sauté the star anise, green onion, and sliced ginger until fragrance. Add in the Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce. Bring it to a boil, add in the meat and enough water to cover the pork. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Make a bed with cut scallion and sliced ginger in a pressure cooker, transfer the pork to the pressure cooker with skin side down. Add in one cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and the rock sugar. Let it continue to cook for 35 minutes at HIGH HEAT.

Note: if you are cooking it with a normal pot, you need to braise it at LOW heat for one and half hours.

5. Wait until the steam completely released from the pressure cooker, then remove the meat from the pressure cooker and transfer the meat to a pot with skin side up.

6. Strain the sauce from the pressure cooker and pour it into the pot, bring it to a boil. Thicken the sauce with some cornstarch slurry and serve.