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Braised pork belly with Wood ear fungus

 

This porky dish doesn't need much preparation, just let it simmer to cook till the meat is tender.  The preserved bean curd ~ 'Nam Yue' adds flavour to the rather bland but crunchy wood ears.  For more information regarding the nutrients and goodness of wood ear fungus,  please check it out  'here'.







You can substitute pork with chicken if you want a halal version of this dish.

Ingredients
  • 50 gm wood ears fungus/'muk yi'
  • 450 gm pork belly, cut into chunks
  • 8 pips garlic, crushed with skin intact
  • 2  tsp Nam Yue, mashed into a paste
  • 2  tsp sugar
  • 2  tsp light soya sauce
  • 1/4 tsp dark  soya sauce
  • 1 cup water
  • 2  tsp Shaoxing wine
  • 1  tsp cornflour + 1 Tbsp water to thicken
  • Spring onions to garnish
Preparation
  1. Marinate the pork belly with the nam yue/preserved beancurd paste and sugar, set aside for about 2 hours.
  2. Soak the wood ear fungus in water till soft.  Cut off the hard stem, then cut into strips.
  3. Saute the crushed garlic with some oil till fragrant.  Toss in the the marinated pork.  Stir-fry for a while and add in the wood ear fungus.
  4. Add in 1 cup of water, sugar, the light and dark soya sauces and let it simmer till the meat is cooked through.
  5. Fine tune to taste and add in the cornflour mixture to thicken,
  6. Turn off heat and mix in the Shaoxing wine.
  7. Dish out and garnish with chopped spring onions.
  8. Serve hot with rice.

Comments

  1. If I were to eat this, the woodears would be walloped first :)

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  2. This is another pork belly dish that I like too:)

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  3. Even though we are not Hakka but we just love this dish. My mom will usually fried the pork first before stewing it. You make me crave for this dish :)

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  4. This is my favorite dish..looks so delicious :)

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  5. Hi, for (2 tsp Nam Yue, mashed into a paste); may I know what's the weight or is it 2 pcs?

    Thanks.

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  6. I love this dish too but I would prefer the belly with a bit more fat...yummy once in a blue moon indulge in a bit of fat is okay I guess :p

    Btw , I did not know I have a Elin style of photography !!! LOL!

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  7. You are simply good with pork.

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  8. Wendy
    So I see you're a woodears fan! Nutritious!

    Jeannie
    This pork belly dish is quite popular.

    Anncoo
    Thank you.

    Anonymous
    It's not 2 pieces, that'll be too much. You see when you buy the nam yue, it's not nicely stacked up in pieces, some will be a bit smashed up, so just take 2 teaspoons of it. When you are cooking, you can test for taste, add in more if you so desire.

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  9. ICook4Fun
    Oh, didn't know this is a Hakka dish, I'm Cantonese. I only recently acquired the taste for nam yue, didn't quite like it previously.

    Elin
    Yup, the meat is not so coarse if there's a bit of fat.

    Shirley
    Thanks. I don't take beef and mutton, so there's not many meat dish to experiment with.

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  10. this is another very tasty dish, the gravy is simply appetising! chicken meat is just as good!

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  11. Lena
    Yes, I've done it before with chicken too. Have an enjoyable weekend!

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  12. I can eat woodears on its own! awesome dish.

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  13. This is my MIL favourite. Yeah, as Gert mentioned the Hakka normally fried the pork to give it an extra fragrant.
    Kristy

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  14. Me too, I am a woodears fan! I would love to have a piece right now, they make me salivate lah.

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  15. Penny, Kristy and Quay Po Cooks
    Never knew that so many of you live woodears. I've grown to acquire the taste not too long ago, more for the nutrition!

    ReplyDelete

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