Braised Pork Belly (Dong Po Rou/东坡肉)

Step 1

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the pork belly and boil for 5 minutes. Discard water, remove pork from pot, rinse and pat dry. Cut the meat into 2 1/2-inch (6cm) squares. Tie the pork pieces with food safety strings as tight as possible to avoid meat from falling apart while braising.

Step 2

Heat up a clay pot or stainless steel pot with oil, stir-fry the ginger and scallions until aromatic. Pour in the water and continue boiling for 10 minutes.

Step 3

Add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and wine, adequate amount of water just to cover the pork belly and boil in high heat. Mix in rock sugar, pork pieces, skin side down and cook for 5 minutes.

Step 4

Lower the heat to medium-low, at a gentle simmering level, cover the pot and braise pork for 30 minutes. Turn pork skin side 'up', and continue braising for 1 1/2-2 hours, or until pork is tender enough to your liking. Adjust seasoning, as per taste, eg. sugar.

Step 5

Dish up and serve pork with Dongpo sauce over steamed rice or buns and vegetables.