Braised Pork Belly (Dong Po Yuk) Recipe [Non-Halal]

27.02.2016 by LadyAlly

Actually I made this dish a while ago and posted the recipe on my old blog, but since not everyone knows about the old blog, so I’m reposting this together with some additional photos since there have been some comments that the recipe is a little complicated.

So anyway, I got these premium pork belly from Taman Tun Dr Ismail wet market, which is my usual place for a good slab of porky goodness, or sometimes I head to Hero Supermarket in TTDI where the same butcher supplies to. This dish isn’t too hard because there is no “guessing” on how to test taste it or how long to cook it for; this is just simple measurement and boiling/steaming.

I wish I have nicer photos to show you, but this was the best I could do while rushing this dish for Chap Goh Meh dinner. (*´ω｀*)

Recipe Ingredients

(Photos are to illustrate the ingredient above it, to help you identify the brands I’m using)

• 1kg++ pork belly, skin on
• 100g spring onions
• 50g ginger, weighed skin on (don’t forget to remove skin before cooking. Personally, I love Bentong ginger. A bit more expensive but yums)
• 400ml Shao Xing Cooking Wine (here’s a photo of the one I use in case you not sure which cooking wine this is. Try the “non-halal” section at supermarkets.)
  
• 80ml light soy sauce
• 20ml dark soy sauce
  
• 80g brown rock sugar

Recipe Directions

(Photos are to illustrate the step above it)

1. Cut the pork belly into two large chunks (as usually they cut a strip for you), and boil in water for 5 minutes to clean it from impurities. Drain.
   
2. Cut spring onions into long lengths and line them to fit the base of your pot. Try not to use a pot too wide as it will be harder to cover the pork with the liquid.
   
3. Slice the ginger and spread it around on top of the spring onion layer.
   
4. Place the pork belly on the spring onion and ginger layer, skin side facing down.
5. Put in the soy sauce and sugar, and lastly, the wine. If there is not enough liquid, add some water to make sure the liquids cover almost the whole pork.
   
6. Bring pot to a boil on high heat, once it is boiling, reduce to a low to simmer for 1 hour. Flip the pork around after an hour of simmering, and let it simmer for another hour.
   
7. After 2 hours, remove the pork belly from the pot (without the gravy) and put it in a steamer, skin side up.
8. Steam on high heat for 30-40 minutes. This is a very important step to get the pork belly fats to be nice and soft, so don’t skip it.
9. While the pork is steaming, simmer the sauce on a large saucepan to caramelise it. Add a bit of cornstarch/tapioca powder/water chestnut powder + water mix, to thicken the sauce a little.
10. Pour the gravy over the pork belly once it has finished steaming and ready to be served. You can serve it in slabs, or you can slice them to smaller pieces depending on how you prefer your dish served.
    

Garnishing (Optional)

If you want to serve guests and would like to pretty up the dish, lay some salad leaves at the bottom of the dish, place the pork on top the leaves. Pour gravy over and put some spring onions on the top. Or some coriander if you prefer.