This has always been a home cooked favorite of mine – a traditional Hakka comfort food. I never guess there was so much preparation work required to cook this but I am glad I tried and managed to recreate a taste close to my mum’s version of this dish.
Ingredients (Serving Size: 2-3)
- 150 gm salty mei cai
- 150 gm sweet mei cai
- 500 gm Pork Belly – Cut to pieces
- 1/2 tsp dark soya sauce to marinate pork
- 3-5 cloves of garlic peeled – I used black garlic
- 2 slices of ginger
- 2 star anise
Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp dark soya sauce
- 1/2 tbsp light soya sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing Huatiao wine
- 20 gm rock sugar
- 300ml water
Steps
Mei Cai
- Rinse sweet and salty mei cai to get rid of impurities until water runs clear.
- Blanch mei cai in boiling water for a few minutes. Rinse and soak in water for another 10 min.
- Remove mei cai and squeeze dry. Chop mei cai into cubes of 1 cm and set aside.
Pork Belly
- Blanch pork belly in boiling water for 3-5 mins. Rinse in cold water, pat dry with paper towel.
- Marinate pork belly with dark soya sauce for at least half an hour.
- Shallow fry the pork belly on both sides in wok pan. Alternatively, use airfryer to fry pork for 5-10 min.
- Drain oil and plunge pork belly in cold water in 10 min.
- Dry and set aside for later
Fry Seasoning
- Use pork oil from browning meat to fry the garlic cloves, ginger and star anise until fragrant. Add in mei cai and fry for a few minutes. Afterwhich, add Sauce and simmer for 30 minutes.
Start the Braise
- Arrange pork belly at the bottom of steaming bowl and cover with mei cai. Cover with lid or foil and steam for 1 hour.
Recipe from Noobcook
http://www.noobcook.com/mei-cai-kou-rou/2/
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