Stewed Dong Po Pork Belly

Last weekend, my brother and his lovely wife came for dinner at my house, I made pancakes to go with herb pork sausage, bacon and eggs.  He loves pancakes.  You must be wondering what has pancakes got to do with this dish and this Quay Po has gone crazy.  What happened was, I made Dong Po pork belly in the morning and it was my first time making the dish.  I brought it out during dinner to let everyone taste so that they can give me their feedback.  I did not expected my brother to it with pancakes but he did anyway and liked it!  I have to say he was right although I was unsure about it at first.  It was awesome with pancakes.  If it paired well with pancakes, I believe it will go well with crepe too and what about corn bread?  Mmmm, I will have to try that later, maybe come up with a Dong Po pork belly crepe party serve with crepe and corn bread with the family next weekend. This is what happens when a Kampong Chinese woman marries a Mat Salleh (Guaylo) It truly shows in our food isn't it? 

This dish is usually served with ?Mantou? Chinese steam buns in most Chinese Restaurants.  Some even serve deep fry ?Mantou? instead of steam ones. Needless to say, anyone would love to eat this with plain rice and no side dish necessary.  The gravy in this dish is what makes it so special.  The flavor is addictive and once you start eating, you do not want to stop haha. At least it did that to all of us that evening.  You will be surprised that the fat in the belly is actually quite tasty after long hours of stewing. It is not oily anymore but crunchy to the teeth. Don't believe me, try it just once even if you do not like fat.

Serving: 4

Ingredients:

500 gm Pork belly

5 slices of ginger

3 nutmeg (cracked)

3 star anise

20 gm lotus seeds, soaked overnight

2 medium white onion, peeled and sliced

30 gm rock sugar

1 tb thick black sauce

150ml Chinese cooking wine, (hua tiao)

350  ml Chicken stock

Method:

Cut pork belly into cubes and use the broad side of knife to pat and smoothen skin. Blanch pork belly in boiling water. Drain and pat dry, set aside.  Put all ingredients into a clay pot and fill with chicken stock.  Bring to boil over high heat and let simmer for 3 hours until pork belly is soft and fragrant.  Dish out the pork belly and place them on the serving plate.  Turn heat to medium and reduce sauce to half. Pour sauce over pork belly and serve.