Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly Rice

I love Taiwanese food. Technically, Taiwanese food is Chinese food. There are many overlaps, but Taiwanese cooking has its own interpretations of similar dishes, and with an array of unique concoctions not found in mainland China. And that’s just one of the many reasons why I love Taiwanese food so much—take the expansive menu of traditional Chinese food, infuse it with local flavors and cooking styles, and you have something that are distinctly Taiwanese and utterly homey and delicious!

One of my favorite Taiwanese fare is its many braised meat dishes—mostly pork—slowly simmered and cooked in a soy sauce mixture and then served over rice with some pickled vegetable and soy sauce eggs, such as this Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly Rice, or in Chinese, ???. Going into any Taiwanese restaurants and you will find many different kinds of rice bowls, but this pork belly rice is probably the most popular. The reason is simple: not many people can resist soft, tender, scrumptious fatty pork belly steeped in a savory and flavorful sauce, and served on top of steaming warm rice. Take a bite of the pork belly, scoop in some rice, plus a nibble of the soy sauce egg, and the sour pickled vegetables, I am transported to food heaven.

Many people have the hesitation to prepare this popular Taiwanese braised pork belly rice at home, thinking that it’s tedious, and the recipe is hard to do. It’s a huge misconception. Taiwanese braised pork belly rice is so easy to do with very minor active time, takes only a couple sauces and few ingredients, and the end result is a complete meal that is fulfilling, filling, and extremely satisfying.

Instead of the traditional soy sauce mixture with rock sugar/sugar, I made my Taiwanese braised pork belly with Mizkan Oigatsuo Tsuyu Bonito Flavored Soup Base (no MSG) and Mizkan Honteri Mirin (sweet cooking seasoning). I started off by fast boiling the pork belly, and then add the two Mizkan sauces into the pork, plus some regular Chinese/Taiwanese dark soy sauce (for coloring purpose). Let the two Mizkan sauces do the magic, and the slow braising will eventually turn the pork belly into utter deliciousness. Mizkan Oigatsuo Tsuyu Bonito Flavored Soup Base (no MSG) is a magical sauce that I use as a soy sauce replacement. This sauce has a green label and has no MSG. There is also a Mizkan Bonito Flavored Soup Base which has a red label. If you are allergic to MSG, make sure you pick up the bottle with green label.

Now, why did I use Mizkan Japanese sauces to make a Taiwanese dish? Because I can, without sacrificing the authentic good taste of this iconic Taiwanese dish using Mizkan products. As I previously shared with you, Mizkan Japanese condiments are versatile and should not be limited to only Japanese cooking. They can be used for other Asian cooking, for example: Chinese (check out my Dan Dan Mian recipe), Taiwanese, Korean, etc. They are what you need for Asian cooking.

By using Mizkan Oigatsuo Tsuyu Bonito Flavored Soup Base (no MSG) as a soy sauce replacement, and the Mizkan Honteri Mirin as a sweetener, this Taiwanese braised pork belly is even more delicious than using regular soy sauce and sugar. The taste is more refined and delicate, but still taste every bit Taiwanese. This Taiwanese braised pork belly rice was so good that Mr. Rasa Malaysia couldn’t stop raving about it, and even my picky 3-year old finished his rice! I can guarantee you that you will immediately fall in love with this Taiwanese braised pork belly recipe, should you try it yourself.

With a handful of key ingredients, plus easily found Mizkan sauces, you ought to try it out. The best part of this recipe, you can also make the yummy braised soy sauce eggs which you serve together with this dish, so you’re basically killing two birds with one stone. Sweet!

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Braised Chicken with Carrot and Mushroom

It goes without saying that I love cooking. However, just like everyone else, I don’t like the “aftermath” of cooking—oil splattering all over my cooktop (even my hands), greasy kitchen backsplash, countertop, and kitchen floor. I don’t enjoy the clean-up because as a clean freak, I pretty much have to mop my entire kitchen every time after I cook. Not fun.

So, I am thrilled to be working with Beka Cookware on its new Clean Cooking Fry Pan with Anti-Splatter Lid. I got the fry pan a few days ago and yesterday, I tested it out with my favorite braised chicken with carrot and mushroom. I usually make this dish with a French Oven, but Clean Cooking fry pan is a perfect alternative.

First I pan-fried the chicken, and then I braised it over low heat. The braised chicken was absolutely scrumptious, crispy on the outside while tender and moist on the inside…the best thing of all, my kitchen countertop and cooker hobs were clean with no messy spatters everywhere. It was amazing!

I love Beka Cookware Clean Cooking Fry Pan and its unique lid which sits low on the fry-pan. Regular lids often trap too much steam and as a result render the food soggy, or worst still, set off even more spatters as the steam/water drops back into the pan. The engineers at BEKA Cookware came out with an innovative design that allows air to circulate while controlling the spatters from frying or searing. The design also allows the ventilation needed to prevent steam build up and thus producing perfectly fried and seared foods that are done to perfection, without creating a big mess!

Without further ado, let’s start cooking with Beka Cookware with my braised chicken with carrot and mushroom recipe. This dish is perfect and hearty for Fall/Winter. With Beka Cookware, you can actually spend more time with your family, instead of in the kitchen cleaning. Please stay tuned for the giveaway of Clean Cooking Fry Pan later this week…one lucky reader will be walking away with the pan!

About Beka Cookware

Founded in 1899, Beka Cookware combines over 100 years of engineering excellence with a young and ambitious spirit. This experience and determination has given birth to the brand new Eco-Logic cookware utilizing high-tech Bekadur non-stick coatings to promote healthier lifestyles and a safer environment. Using quality materials and the latest in advanced manufacturing processes Beka creates products that are built to last while setting new standards in the cookware industry.

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Braised Pork Belly (Dong Po Rou/东坡肉)

Braised Pork Belly (Dong Po Rou) pictures (1 of 4)

Pork is most definitely not just “the other white meat” in China. From the smoky-licious BBQ Pork (??) and Crispy Pork Belly (??) in Cantonese cuisine to the dainty-licious Xiao Long Bao (???) from Shanghai and numerous other famous Chinese pork dishes in between, pork is clearly the meat of choice in Chinese cooking. In fact, the Chinese character for meat ‘?’ (ròu), refers to pork if no particular meat is specified (e.g. ??’?’ translates to Sweet and Sour ‘Pork’).

During one of my travels to China, I had the pleasure of introducing my taste buds to a deservedly popular pork dish in Chinese cuisine—the delicate and delectable Braised Pork Belly, Dongpo Pork (???). As I have mentioned before, many Chinese dish names tell interesting stories, like Beggar’s Chicken (???) or Goubuli Baozi (?????). Dongpo Pork is an iconic feature of Hangzhou (??) cuisine and can be attributed to Su Shi (??) a.k.a Su Dongpo (???), a scholar and court official during the Song Dynasty (??), renowned today for his brilliance in poetry, calligraphy, and writings in Chinese literary history.

There was a time when Su Dongpo was demoted for criticizing the emperor and sent to Huangzhou (??) in exile. One day, he was so engrossed in a game of Chinese chess (??) with an old friend that he forgot all about the Red-Cooked Pork Belly (???) braising on his stove. The fragrant aroma from the lengthy braising drifting in from the kitchen suddenly reminded him. As he took a bite of the pork, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the dish he thought had been ruined turned out to be even more tender and tastier than expected. Dongpo Pork was thus born.

When he was later stationed in Hangzhou (??) and was overseeing a reconstruction project on the West Lake (??), he cooked the same dish with the pork cut up into cubes and distributed them to the workers as a sign of gratitude. The dish was thoroughly enjoyed by all and Dongpo Pork rapidly gained popularity then and there right up to the present day, where it has become a notable signature dish in Hangzhou cuisine and famous all around the world.

The key discerning factor between Red-Cooked Pork and Dongpo Pork is undoubtedly the lengthier braising process, which increases the caramelization of the sugar to enhance the flavor, infuses the cooking wine into the meat longer for an even richer fragrance, and last but definitely not least, breaks down the fat further to give the pork that tender “melt-in-your-mouth” texture minus the greasiness.

In other words, this is one dish that is definitely worth the wait. And as a bonus for your patience, you can always “forget” to set your kitchen timer and wait for the tantalizing aroma to remind you of the mouth-watering concoction simmering on your stovetop. Who knows? You might just get a dish named after you!

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Japanese Braised Pork Belly (Buta no Kakuni)

Since we’re now officially deep into winter, I’d like to re-share a recipe for Japanese pork belly, or buta no kakuni. Really, there are few things that are better on a cold day than a bubbling pot of braised pork belly and its aroma of of ginger, scallions, star anise, and sweetened soy sauce altogether. And because we’re still in the midst of the holiday season, you have an excuse to indulge. Here is a revised version of the recipe, first published in April 2010.

At a dinner party earlier this week, a nutritionist from China told me point-blank the main problem with American diets is the overwhelming meat consumption. Meat was a bigger culprit than carbs or complex sugars, he said. Americans think nothing of eating a 22 oz. steak or a bucket of fried chicken in a single meal, with potato as a “vegetable” side. There’s not moderation in this country, and that’s why obesity is such a huge problem. I nodded and agreed, mentioning, among other things, the now notorious Double Down.

The next night, without thinking, I made a pound of pork belly for dinner.

To be fair, it was one of those cold and windy April days, and braised pork just seemed like a good idea. Frequent readers of this blog may remember that I have numerous other pork recipes. I mean, it’s kind of a sin for someone of Asian descent to not be obsessed with fatty pork.

I decided to try a Japanese version of braised pork belly (buta no kakuni) and see how it tastes compared to the Chinese counterpart, red-cooked pork. The two cooking methods seem pretty similar side-by-side. There are some minor differences: fewer spices used, and lack of par-boiling the meat prior to browning it. Also, I was curious how pork braised in soy sauce, sake, and star anise would taste with mustard.

So, save this for a day when you have just run 10 miles, did an intense Bikram session, or maybe just had salad for lunch. I think the hard boiled egg is a nice addition for a side, although the Japanese also eat it with daikon. Either white rice or ramen is great for soaking up the sauce.

And I should just avoid talking to nutritionists at dinner parties from now on, to avoid becoming a hypocrite.

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Japanese Braised Pork Belly (Buta no kakuni)

Serves 4

1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
1 pound pork belly, cubed
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/4 cup sliced scallions, white and greens separated
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sake
1 to 2 pieces star anise
4 eggs
Mustard on the side (optional)

1. In a Dutch oven or pot, add the oil and sauté the pork belly on all sides until it starts to turn golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle in the ginger and scallions and sauté very briefly, about 20 seconds.

2. Add the sugar over the pork and stir. The sugar should sink down to the bottom of the pot and begin to caramelize. Toss the pork so that it gets coated by the caramelizing sugar, being careful to not let the sugar burn.

3. Add enough water to the pot to fully cover the pork. Add the soy sauce, sake, and star anise. Once the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and allow your pork to cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Go read, do laundry, catch up on Facebook. Your house will start to smell nice.

4. When the pork is close to done, hard boil your eggs. Once your eggs are cooked, rinse them under cool water, and remove the shells. Slice the eggs in half. Add your eggs to the pot for about 5 to 10 minutes so the outside absorbs some of the braising liquid.

5. When you think the pork is melty enough for your liking, remove the pork, eggs, and sauce from heat and transfer to a serving dish. (The pork and eggs in Japan are sometimes dabbed with mustard; add a small dish of it to the side if you’d like). Serve with rice or ramen.

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Other pork recipes to try:

Cantonese Roast Pork (Char Siu)

Red-Cooked Pork (Hongshao rou)

Vietnamese Caramelized Pork

Twice-Cooked Pork (Huiguo rou)

Pork Adobo

Sweet and Sour Pork

Tagged as: Japanese, Pork, Recipes

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Braised Chicken with Chestnuts

For the past few days, ever since daylight savings, I’ve been thinking about winters back in Massachusetts. When I was younger, around this time of year, the old Jordan Marsh department store in Boston (now a Macy’s) would set up the “Enchanted Village”, an almost-over-the-top holiday wonderland that took up a whole floor of the building and drew in hoards of visitors with its lavish window displays. There were mechanical teddy bears in Santa hats waving at you. Toy trains chugging over and under snow-capped plastic mountains in dizzying figure eights. Endless repetition of Jingle Bell Rock and other holiday standards. Parents and kids and babies in strollers coming from all directions. And I went back year after year, loving every single minute.

(To this day, I’m a huge sucker for Christmas displays, even though my Sunday school education and church-going ended somewhere around third grade.)

And en route from Jordan Marsh, next to the Salvation Army bell ringers, there would inevitably be a guy selling fresh roasted chestnuts. I’d share a bag with whoever I was with, either my mom or aunt or a friend. Munching on the chestnuts, I’d also start humming the opening lines of The Christmas Song to myself, even the nuts weren’t actually roasted, as the song goes, over an open fire.

It wasn’t until I moved away from Boston that I realized buying a brown bag of roasted chestnuts off the side of the street was actually a rare thing.  It’s pretty hard to find in New York, outside of Chinatown in Manhattan and Flushing. And I haven’t seen it in any other city in the US. (If you have, let me know where! And do they even sell roasted chestnuts in Boston anymore?)

Roasting chestnuts is, however, more a bit common in China. In Beijing’s hutongs, you can smell the roasting an alley away, and it’s much more pleasant than the stinky tofu they also sell in the hutongs. In Macau, I came across a vendor that sold it from his cart, roasting them in big cast iron drum with charcoal-fueled fire underneath, and no encasement whatsoever. And wow, were those popping sounds and sparks intense.

This is all to say that I love chestnuts this time of year, and wanted to make this Sichuan braised chicken with chestnut dish once again. It’s adapted from Fuchsia Dunlop’s recipe in Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. Instead of cutting up a whole chicken, I simplified it by using bone-in chicken thighs, then adjusted the ingredient amounts accordingly. And instead of raw chestnuts in their shell, I used the easier-to-find pre-packaged roasted chestnuts. (I bought mine at Tokyo Mart in Chinatown, but you can also find them online here, here, and here.)

I love how this dish has so few flavoring ingredients, yet tastes rich and robust from the long braising time. The chicken is fork-tender, and the chestnuts are soft without being mushy. The thickened sauce is amazingly savory when you consider that only 1 tablespoon of soy sauce used in the entire dish. I devoured 2 large pieces of chicken for a really late lunch, and another for dinner 3 hours later.

So if you also have a hankering for chestnuts once the Christmas standards start playing in every department store, try this dish out. Or if you’re in New York, hop over to Chinatown or Flushing and get a bag of them freshly roasted. The vendor might even give you the musical accompaniment.

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Braised Chicken with Chestnuts

adapted from Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop

Serves 4 to 5 as part of a multi-course meal, or 2 to 3 as a main entree

2-inch piece fresh ginger
2 scallions
6 to 8 ounces whole roasted chestnuts
2 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, preferably bone-in and with skin
2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1/4 cup Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar

Peel the ginger and cut into thick slices. Cut the whole scallions into 2-inch lengths.Heat a wok or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat until a bead of water evaporates on contact. Add the chestnuts and stir-fry for about 1 minute, until golden. Transfer the chestnuts to a plate lined with paper towels to drain, and set aside.In the same wok or pot, carefully add the chicken. Allow the chicken to sear untouched on one side until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip the chicken over and sear on the other side for another 3 minutes. Add the ginger and scallions and sear for about 30 seconds. Splash in the Chinese rice wine and stir well.Slowly add the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Stir in the sugar and soy sauce. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.Add the chestnuts and mix well. Simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes until they’re softened. The liquid should also have thickened to a sauce consistency by now. Adjust the seasoning with salt if desired, then transfer to a deep serving dish.Tagged as: Chicken, Chinese, Recipes, Sichuan

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Braised Beef Shank

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Braised Mushroom with Dashi

March 12th, 2011 | 30-Minute Meals Recipes, Japanese Recipes | 8 Comments

Braised Mushroom with Dashi pictures (1 of 6)

I love mushrooms for as long as I can remember, even when I was a little kid. I love mushrooms of all sorts, shiitake, button, enoki, straw mushrooms—canned or fresh. One of the great things about the United States is that I can get fresh mushrooms easily. They are readily available at the market…

Whenever I get some fresh shiitake mushrooms at the market, I always make this Japanese-style braised mushrooms with dashi and mirin. The end result is a very simple side dish that is absolutely umamilicious. You will know what I mean if you attempt this braised mushroom recipe at home.

Braised Mushrooms with Dashi Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup dashi
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
4 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed

Method:

Add all the ingredients (except the mushroom) into a saucepan with a low to medium heat. As soon as it bubbles, add the mushrooms into the saucepan.

Cook until the dashi reduces to about half the original quantity, by then, the dashi stock would become slightly sticky because of the mushrooms. Turn off the heat, let cool. Cut the mushrooms to thin slices. This dish is best when served cold or at room temperature.

Cook’s Note:

You can get my dashi recipe in the Nabe (Yosenabe) post.

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Korean Braised Short Ribs (Kalbi Jjim)

Slow-cooking meat in a nice enamelled cast iron Dutch oven is a pretty sublime experience. I've done my fair share of braising in metal pots, woks, Crock-Pots, and even sauté pans, but really, nothing compares to the ease of searing and stewing everything in the same pot, and one that needs minimal heat to stay bubbling hot. When most of your favorite dishes (boeuf bourguignon, coq au vin, chicken adobo, red-cooked pork) are braises or stews, you start salivating over the Le Creusets and Staubs upon entering any kitchen supply store.

I've used Le Creusets a good number of times when teaching at cooking schools, but hadn't actually own a proper Dutch oven until now. This Christmas I received a lovely red Staub "cocotte" from my chief taste tester/bf and have been using it as much as possible. (A great present, by the way, for someone craves chicken adobo every other day and can make it in her sleep.) 

One of the first thing I made in my gorgeous new cooking vessel was a Korean dish I've been craving since my trip to Seoul called kalbi jjim (also spelled kalbi jim, galbi jim, or galbi jjim). Kalbi jjim is a combination of short ribs, potatoes, carrots, and onions, slow-cooked in a intoxicating mixture of white wine, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil. It seemed like the perfect hearty meal for the days following the blizzard, when streets were still lined with waist-high snow banks and just getting to a restaurant two blocks away seemed like a slushy chore.   

The sauce can't be easier, made with  ingredients your pantry probably already has. Don't worry about the measurements; neither the saltiness from the 1/2 cup or soy sauce nor the sweetness from the 1/2 cup of sugar are overpowering. Such is the beauty of slow-cooking (and a little help from the sesame oil, wine, and garlic.)

You can, of course, use cuts of beef other than short ribs, such as chuck or brisket. But braising bone-in beef makes the meat much more tender, and the collagen in the bones lends a richness to the sauce. In Korea, the authentic way to make kalbi jjim is to first boil the beef in water for 10 to 15 minutes to remove impurities (some cooks add the step of soaking the beef in cold water overnight, then boil it the next day.) Then you slice grooves into the beef (each piece will look somewhat like a hand with 3 or 4 fingers), so the beef absorbs more flavor from the braising liquid and becomes fork-tender. If you're short on time, you can skip this step and still have very succulent beef, but it really does make a difference.

A pot of short ribs with this recipe will feed 6 hungry diners or 4 very hungry folks. I don't have 5 other people to feed, but I added sides of kimchi from and rice and was golden for 4 meals. The only thing missing, and still made me miss Korea, was a liquor store nearby that sold makkoli...

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Korean Braised Short Ribs (Kalbi Jjim)

Serves 4 to 6

2 pounds short ribs, cut to 2- or 3-inch lengths

2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, cut into large dice
5 or 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 cup sugar
3 carrots, cut into large dice
1 potato, cut into large dice
Salt and pepper to taste.

1. Trim some of the excess fat from the short ribs (but don't go crazy). Score the meat by slicing 1/2-inch deep groves in the meat, against the grain. This helps the meat to absorb more of the braising liquid and results in more tender short ribs.

2. Place the ribs in large pot. Add enough water to cover the ribs. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Allow the beef to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes to remove excess blood and fat. Transfer the ribs to another dish with a slotted spoon, shaking off excess water. Discard the water.

3.  Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot. Sauté the onions and garlic until aromatic and the onions are soft and beginning to brown. Pour in the water, soy sauce, white wine, and sesame oil. Add the sugar and stir until it is fully dissolved. Add the drained short ribs, carrots, and potatoes. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook with the lid off, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes, until the beef is tender but not yet falling off the bone. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

4. Transfer the beef and vegetables to a serving dish and ladle the sauce on top. Serve with rice, maybe with a little kimchi on the side.

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More beef recipes to try:

Japanese Beef and Rice Bowl 

Mongolian Beef

Sichuan Boiled Beef in Fiery Sauce (Shuizhu niurou) 

Spicy Hunan Beef with Cumin

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