1st attempt - Lu Rou Fan (stewed pork taiwanese style on rice)

I had just recently moved. I would say unlike most people I know, I LOVE moving. I love being in new spaces, particularly ones that are a bit flexible for me to move things around. So far, the flat has been fabulous.

As soon as the kitchen was setup, I got very excited about all the potential meals I could make. Instead of going back to old favourites, I decided to make something I’ve always loved, but never made - Lu Rou Fan - which translates to stewed/marinated meat on rice. It’s a quite traditional dish and very popular in Taiwan. (My taiwanese friends verified this!)

It all started with this. A pork belly strip I got from T&T. It was about $8 for 0.8kg. I wasn’t sure what to do with the skin, as I was a bit turned off by the potential of hair and didn’t have a blow torch to clear it off. So I just removed it.

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Next I prepared..

Ingredients

  • Pork belly, chopped into 5mm cubes, so just like, small cubes
  • 1/2 bowl soy
  • 1/4 bowl dark soy (this is really for colour, I added a bit much as you might see from the next photo)
  • 1/2 bowl chinese wine
  • 1 bowl of chopped up shiitake mushrooms
  • 1/2 bowl or so chopped scallions
  • 1/4 bowl or so minced ginger and garlic
  • 1 lump of rock sugar (I’ve never used this before but it gave a richer taste than white sugar, I think, Or I might be making this up)
  • 2 tsp of chinese five spice (I don’t use measuring soups so I’m guessing this)
  • 2 stars of the star anise
  • a handful of dried shrimps, soaked for about 20 minutes, drained and chopped

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Steps

  1. In a heavy pot (I used my trusty Le Crueset), fry up the pork
  2. Once cooked and a bit brown, add the ginger, garlic, scallion, fry for a minute or two
  3. Add the mushroom and dried shrimps, fry for another minute or two
  4. Add five spice and the star anise, fry fry fry
  5. Add the sugar lum
  6. Then add the dark soy and soy, and half of the chinese wine
  7. Turn the heat to medium low
  8. Add water to cover the meat to about 3/4, cover, walk away for 30 minutes
  9. And now you’re back! Check the water level if it’s getting too sticky or dry
  10. Add the remaining chinese wine
  11. Now it’s up to you! Taste it, if you’re happy with the tenderness of the meat, then you’re done, if not, cover and walk away, come back in 10.

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And this is what comes out! A very flavourful dish - best on rice! I didn’t take a photo of the actual finished product, but I added some stirfy peashoot and a fried egg on top. 

It was super delicious. I’d say it was a bit on the salty side so you don’t need a lot of meat at all for a meal.