Braised Pork Belly With Mushrooms, Bamboo Shoots and Black Fungus 五花肉焖冬菇竹笋

Braised Pork Belly With Mushrooms, Bamboo Shoots and Black Fungus 五花肉焖冬菇竹笋

Yummy!

This dish has been handed down from my father-in-law. In my family, or rather in SK's family, the men are better cooks than the womenfolks. The cooking skills seem to be in the genes and appear to have been passed from one generation to the next and it encompasses even the kinsmen in China. When we visited SK's home village in Chaozhou, China, the men were the ones cooking in the kitchen while the womenfolks attended to the supporting functions of cleaning, cutting and the general preparatory work. Well, it's okay with me if I can sit back and enjoy good food ! Cheers to the clan !

 

Ingredients

500g pork belly

50g dried mushrooms

50g dried black fungus / mook yee

1 can of bamboo shoot

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, cut into thin slices

1 tbsp minced garlic

Sauce ingredients

3 tbsp oyster sauce

3 tbsp black soya sauce

1 heaped tsp salt

2 heaped tsp of sugar

Mix all the ingredients in 1 rice bowl of water

Cornflour Solution

Mix 2 tsp of cornflour with 2 Chinese soup spoons of water

Marinade for mushrooms

3tbsp of shaoxing wine

2 Chinese soup spoon of cooking oil

1 tsp of soy sauce

2 tsp sugar

A Chinese soup spoon

 

 

 

 

 Preparation of the mushrooms

 

Soak the mushrooms in water for 1 hour until soft. Any mushrooms that still remain hard despite the soaking should be discarded. Remove the stems and wash thoroughly and squeeze out the remaining water. Stir the marinade ingredients in a bowl  then add the mushrooms to the marinade and mix well.

The marinated mushrooms look plump and juicy with a film of oil

Set aside

Preparation of the black fungus

 

Soak the black fungus in water until soft

 Cut off the hard parts as shown

Cut into bite size pieces

Set aside

Preparation of the bamboo shoots

 

Open the can of bamboo shoot. Rinse the bamboo shoots under the tap. Drain off the water and cut into sections as shown.

Set aside

Preparation of the pork belly

 

Wash the pork belly. Drain away the water. Cut out the fatty parts and remove the skin. 

Set the skin and the fatty parts aside. Do not throw away

 Cut the pork belly into cubes

How to extract lard

Heat wok until very hot, add the skin and fatty parts and fry to extract the lard or the oil. Remove excess lard and set aside. Leave 2 tbsp of the lard in the wok

Add in the cubed pork belly and stir fry quickly over high heat until the pork belly changes to a whitish color

Dish up and set aside

 

 

 

 

Cooking instructions

1.  Heat wok until very hot, add 2 tbsp of lard

2.  Add the ginger slices and minced garlic and saute until fragrant and light brownish in color

3.  Add in the marinated mushrooms and fry for 3 minutes

4.  Add in the black fungus and bamboo shoots and stir fry for another 3 minutes

5.  Add in the pork pieces and mix evenly with the rest of the ingredients

6.  Add in the sauce ingredients

7.  Add in more water and make sure all the ingredients are covered with water

8.  Let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes

9.  Add in the cornflour solution

10.  It's ready once the fragrance emits from the wok.

Isn't this mouth-watering ?