A simple home-style Sichuan braised pork recipe
Today, we introduce a simple home-cooked way to make Sichuan-style braised pork belly.Braised Pork Belly The main characteristic is frying the five-spice meat before cooking it, making it not greasy when eaten and slightly spicy.Pork belly is fried in oil first, then cooked. This makes the braised pork belly less greasy to eat and a little spicy.
Ingredients: A piece of pork belly, large onions, ginger,garlic cloves, star anise,cinnamon, doubanjiang sauce , soy sauce (light), and dark soy sauce in appropriate amounts.Preparation: Clean the pork belly, cut into pieces; slice the large onions, and ginger slices. Smash the garlic cloves.
Steps: 1. Heat oil in a wok until it is 80% hot, then fry the meat chunks until golden brown. Remove from the pot to drain excess oil.
2. In the same wok with some remaining oil, sauté the onions, ginger, garlic, and star anise until fragrant. Add the doubanjiang sauce and stir-fry until fragrant. Pour in water, bring to a boil, and simmer for a few minutes. Remove the seasonings using a strainer and discard them.
3. Return the fried pork belly to the pot with some added onion pieces, ginger slices, star anise, and cinnamon. Add soy sauce (light) and dark soy sauce as needed. Simmer over high heat, then reduce to low heat until the meat is tender. Increase the heat again to thicken the sauce before serving.
Additional Notes:
1. Choose hard pork belly with visible five-spice layers; avoid those close to the abdomen or near the loin area.2. Dark soy sauce is used for coloring, but you can also use caramelized sugar water or a solution made from red yeast rice instead if you prefer. 3. Adding cinnamon while cooking will give it a subtle cinnamon flavor, but be careful not to add too much.
Supplemental explanation:
1 When choosing pork belly, select a hard five-layer piece where you can see the five layers from all sides; avoid parts near the abdomen and loins.
2 Adding dark soy sauce is to color the dish, but if you have skill, you can also make colored water with sugar instead of using dark soy sauce. Alternatively, using water made from red yeast rice is acceptable as well.
3 Adding a little cinnamon and cooking it together with the meat pieces will give the finished dish a subtle cinnamon aroma; however, do not add too much cinnamon.
