Braised Pork Belly with Quail Eggs

Prepare the ingredients.

Heat a small amount of oil in a pan, give the quail eggs a beauty treatment~ Pan-fry until golden on both sides, then remove and set aside.

Add cooking wine (1 tablespoon) and ginger slices (2 pieces) to cold water, and let the pork belly have a free fall into the water.

This contestant might be from the Philippines—the splashing is intense! Skim off the scum from the pork.

Once the pork turns white, take it out and drain it. (If there's scum sticking to the pork, you can rinse it lightly.)

If using a non-stick pan, you can skip the oil because the pork will release its fat. Pan-fry until golden on both sides (watch out for oil splashes!).

After frying, remove the pork. Keep the fat rendered from the pork in the pan, then add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise, ginger slices, and spring onion segments. Stir-fry until aromatic. Melt brown sugar to caramelize—it takes some time, so don't use high heat, or it will turn bitter. Perfect time to catch up on a show~

After the caramel is ready, add the pre-fried pork and stir until evenly coated.

Add 3 bowls of water, 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce (adjust based on the color intensity of your soy sauce—mine is light, so I used 2), 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce. Bring to a boil on high heat, then reduce to low heat to simmer. Don't add the eggs yet—they're fragile and might break.

When the sauce is reduced to one-third of its original amount, increase the heat to high and add the eggs to thicken the sauce. Stir occasionally to ensure even coloring. If you like more sauce, leave some for an extra flavor boost for rice.

Done! No beauty filters used—the braised pork belly with tiger-skin quail eggs is ready to serve.