< Grandma Kitchen 7> Second dishes: Halogen Pork (Braised Pork Belly and
We all liked the braised pork belly and eggs cooked by mum; it was also the dish which we had eaten since our childhood. Mum again preferred the lean pork belly for this dish. This dish took a longer time as it required cooking over low heat.
The ingredients for this dish include 2 kilogram of pork belly cut into 10 stripes, two big piece of ginger, 10 garlic chopped into pieces without taking off the skin, 10 tablespoons full of white sugar, and 20 eggs. To start, mum would fry the ginger, then add the garlic and fry both till fragrant. She quickly put in 10 spoons full of white sugar into the wok. The sugar turned brown immediately because of the high temperature of the oil. Mum then put the pork stripes into the wok, stripe by stripe; making sure each stripe was covered with the sugar syrup. Next, she poured boiled water to just cover the meat in the wok. She then added dark soya sauce, five-spice powder, salt and pepper. The meat was allowed to cook over low heat for about half an hour.
While waiting for the pork belly to cook, mum would prepare the vegetables and boiled the eggs. She kept an eye on the braised pork belly; sometimes she turned the pork stripes so that every stripe was well cooked. Mum spent nearly an hour to braise the pork belly.
When the pork belly was ready, mum dished up the meat and braised the eggs with the remaining sauce. She put all the hard boiled eggs into the sauces and cooked for about 10 minutes. She would turn the eggs so that they were all covered with the sauce. They were ready when the eggs were brown in color.
Before serving, mum would cut the braised pork belly stripes into half an inch pieces. The eggs were cut into half too. These braised pork bellies were sweet and tasty and there was no need to eat them with soya sauces though some people like them with chili sauce. Having rice together with the meat sauce also encouraged us children to take more than a bowl of rice!
I have tried to cook this braised pork belly for my family though it is not as nice as my mum’s cooking. Sometimes it was overcooked, other times it was not well cooked. I regret not learning from my mum when she was around. Among us sisters, my late eldest sister inherited from my mum’s gift in cooking.
INGREDIENTS
Pork Belly 2 kg
Ginger 2 big pieces cut into smaller pieces
Garlic 10 pieces, chopped
Eggs 20
Sugar 10 table spoon
Salt 1 table spoon
Five-spice powder 2 table spoon
Dark soya sauce 2 table spoon
Pepper 1 table spoon