Ingredients

  • 350-400g pork belly
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp Chinese black vinegar
  • 1 chilli
  • 3 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1 thumb ginger, sliced
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • spices
    • 3-4 pieces start anise
    • 3-4 pieces clove
    • 1 stick cinnamon
    • 3-4 pieces green cardamom
  • 1/2 tsp corn starch

Recipe

Blanch whole pork belly in just enough water to cover it for 5 minutes. Next, remove the pork from the water and let it cool. Set aside the blanching liquid for later.

Once cool, slice pork belly into small chunks and set aside. In a pot on medium heat, add aromatics, chilli and spices to oil. After a minute or so, add pork belly to pot. When pork belly is slightly browning, deglaze with cooking wine and then add soy sauce, vinegar, honey, and enough of the blanching water to just cover pork. Let simmer for about 90 minutes until the pork is tender.

Remove pork pieces from pot and pour the remaining braising liquid through a strainer. Discard the filtered solids. Now, pour the filtered braising liquid into a pan with a corn-starch slurry added to it. Leave on medium–high heat until reduced to the desired consistency.

Pour the reduced braising liquid back onto the pork and serve with rice.