Braised Pork with Chestnuts
I searched for many recipes on Xiachufang, but none of them turned out quite right. After many trials, I find this recipe the most satisfying. Note: Always use hot water when braising pork. Hot water. Hot water. Hot water. Important things deserve repeating three times. Using cold water will make the meat tough. Chestnuts can be replaced with dried bamboo shoots or other side ingredients. The same method applies. Adjust the cooking time based on the maturity level of the side ingredient. Whether you add them earlier or later doesn't really matter. Regarding ingredient measurements: Have you ever seen a Chinese chef weigh every single ingredient before cooking? Don't you have any sense of your own preference for salty or mild flavors? To nitpickers: Please move on. If you're so capable, why are you even looking for a recipe!!!
Ingredients
Steps
Clean the pork belly and cut it into square pieces.
Prepare the ingredients.
Pan-fry sliced ginger, green onion (white part), and pork belly until golden brown. Remove and set aside. (If your pork doesn’t release much oil due to quality, add a bit of oil to the pan first.)
If too much oil is released from the pork, remove some and leave just a little in the pan. Add the rock sugar over low heat until it melts into a caramel color.
Quickly toss the pork belly into the pan, coating it evenly with the caramelized sugar.
Add all the remaining spices except for soy sauce and cooking wine. Stir-fry until aromatic. Transfer everything to a clay pot.
Pour in boiling water to just cover the pork. Add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, and cooking wine. Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 60 minutes. Add the chestnuts and continue simmering for another 30 minutes. Turn up the heat to reduce the sauce. Serve.
No filters, no editing. True color of the dish: rich golden and melts in your mouth.