Braised Pork With Preserved Vegetables （梅菜扣肉）

 

During gatherings for New Year, holidays, or special occasions, we always have various challenging dishes to support the scene. This braised pork with preserved or plum vegetables (Mei Cai Kou Rou / 梅菜扣肉）is one of them.

Many people choose to eat this dish outside, perhaps because they think the restaurant's version tastes better or maybe because they think the recipe takes a lot of time.  Yes, it is made from scratch, it’s taken a long time to make it. The toughest part is to deep fry the pork and to clean the preserved veggies.  And the rest of the process is to put all the ingredients into the bowl and steam it. It’s easy once you figure it out. It's not difficult at all.

Cleaning the preserved veggies is the most difficult aspect of this dish—it's crucial to give them a thorough cleaning. And the preserved veggies are a unique for this Chinese pork belly. The flavor added by this preserved mustard greens is unique and appetizing.

I am using two types of preserved vegetables in this recipe. Salty and sweet. Usually the darker ones are sweet, while the lighter ones are salty. You must first soak them like for five or six hours, especially the salty type. Second, you must wash them like six to seven times or until the water is very clean.

To prevent the pig skin from touching the wok's bottom and scorching while frying, I inserted a few toothpicks into the pork belly skin.  Additionally, the skin can be evenly fried.

Traditionally, this braised pork is steam-cooked on the stove for two hours over high heat. But I steam cook my braised pork in a pressure cooker. It will help you save time and effort. You can also enjoy the finished product in 60 minutes rather than 2 hours.

Even though it takes a bit more time and work, making this braised port belly with preserved vegetables is not difficult. Sometimes I even think to myself, "Wow, I can make this challenging dish" It is amazing! I will pat myself on the back. And you should pat yourself on the back as well.

 

INGREDIENTS

1.4 kg Por Belly

300g Salted preserved vegetable s

400g sweet Preserved vegetables

Some cooking oil (for frying)

1 tbsp dark soy sauce (spread on the pork)

3 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp minced ginger

 2 tbsp shallot

15pcs rock sugar or more

For blanching

1 stalk spring onion

1 inch length of ginger, sliced

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Seasoning (For preserved vegetables)

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

½ tsp white pepper

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Seasoning (For Pork Belly)

½ tsp white pepper

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

3 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

 Cornstarch slurry (mixed well)

2 tsp corn flour

5 tbsp water

METHOD

1. Put the pork belly in a wok with water without turning on the flame. Add the ginger slices, spring onion and Shaoxing wine. Turn on flame and bring to a boil. Blanch the pork for about 12 minutes or until you can pierce the skin of the pork. Take the pork out and set aside.

2. Using a meat tenderizer or a fork, pierce the skin of the pork with as many holes as you can. Using paper towels, dap the oil that emerged from the hole.

3. Spread dark soy sauce on the skin and the side, and let it dry for later use.

4. Inserted a few toothpicks into the pork belly skin as a stand.

5. Without turning on the heat, add some cooking oil to the wok. The oil is barely enough to cover the meat's skin side down. To prevent the oil from splashing out, turn on the heat and cover it with a lid. Turn the meat over and continue cooking the other side until it goes golden brown, and the skin turns brown-red and bubbles.

6. After removing the meat, soak it for at least an hour in a pot of ice-cold water with the skin side down. Remove it from the ice water and refrigerate it overnight. When the meat is cold, slicing will be easier.

7. Prepare preserved vegetables. Soak for 5-6 hours. Then wash them with water 6-7 times to get rid of all sand and dirt. Drain and set aside. Cut it into small pieces.

8. Heat up the wok without oil, pour in the preserved vegetables, stir fry to dry up the water in it. Remove for later use.

9. Heat up the work with 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, add in the minced garlic, ginger, shallots, and rock sugars. Stir fry until the sugar melts and the garlic mixture turns golden brown. Add back the preserved vegetables, quick stir until all the ingredients are well combined. Add in the preserved vegetables seasoning, mix it well. And the corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce. Taste and adjust. Remove it for later use.

10. Combine the pork seasoning in a bowl, mix it up. Slice up the cold meat into pieces about 1.5cm thick. Carefully spread the pork seasoning mixture all over the pork slices. Make sure all slices are cover with the seasoning

11. Arrange them neatly at the bottom of two shallow heat-proof bowls with skin side down.  Cover the preserved vegetables mixture over the pork belly in the bowl and spread evenly to cover all the pork belly.

12. Bring the pressure cooker with a steamer rack and cover with enough water to boil over high heat, put in the pork, cover the pressure valve when steam begins to emerge, let it steam cook for 60 minutes at high heat. Wait until the steam completely released from the pot, remove the pork from the pressure cooker.

13. Remove the bowl from the steamer or pressure cooker and carefully pour the excess liquid into a saucepan.  Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer and add the cornstarch slurry to thicken it.

14. Cover the bowl of pork with your serving plate and flip it over onto the plate. Pour the sauce over the dish and serve. This dish is glorious with a bowl of white rice!