Skip to main content

Braised pork belly with Belimbing




Belimbing  ~  Averrhoa Bilimbi  is a greenish, mini fruit which has a very sour taste and can be eaten raw with some sambal belacan, a shrimp paste chilli dip, used in curries or cooked like how I did.  I remember this tree in my grandma's backyard long, long ago and she used to cook this with some onions, preserved bean paste, some red or green chillies and bits of fried pork fat aka as 'chee yau char' in Cantonese.  As a kid, I used to pluck this from the ever flourishing tree and just taste it and gosh, it's awfully sour!  Read more of this  Belimbing from Wiki ......



Here's a picture of Belimbing





I haven't had this dish for a long, long time and when I served this on the dining table, my other half  asked me what it was ..... he had never tasted this before but commented it did go well with white rice.

Recipe for Braised pork belly with Belimbing

Ingredients
  • 600 gm pork belly, cut into bite size  
  • 4 pieces belimbing, sliced thinly
  • 2 pips garlic, chopped
  • 1  Tbsp tau cheong/fermented bean paste
  • 1/2 tsp dark soya sauce
  • 1 green chili, sliced
  • 1 big onion, cut into wedges
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tsp sugar or to taste
  • Seasalt to taste
Preparation

  1. Marinate the pork belly with some seasalt, set aside.
  2. Saute the chopped garlic and fermented bean paste with some oil till fragrant.
  3. Add in the pork belly, stir-fry for a while and add in 2 cups water and dark soya sauce.
  4. Bring to the boil, lower heat, cover and simmer till meat is tender and the stock reduced.
  5. Add in the sliced belimbing, sugar and stir-fry for a while.  
  6. Add in the sliced green chilli and onion wedges, stir-fry.  Fine tune to taste.
  7. Dish out and serve with white rice or plain white porridge.




I'm linking this entry with Weekend Herb Blogging # 333 hosted by
Cindy of  Cindystar

Comments

  1. wahhh I'm salivating already! I love braised pork belly, all that tender melting fat yum yum!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll always discard the fat and savour the lean meat only!

      Delete
  2. Yes, I do remember this dish. Can't even remember when was the last time I had belimbing. I guess it is not commonly found in the markets these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right Biren. This is only sold at the wet market, most of it is home grown.

      Delete
  3. Hello,
    Yes, that was the way my late mother used to serve us with the belimbing too with the beanpaste and chee yau char!those were the days!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nostalgic, right? And thanks for dropping by. I just hopped over to yours, interesting!

      Delete
  4. Goes very well with rice. What is belimbing? I shall check it out when I next go supermarket?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In Cantonese we call it 'sui chai'. Doubt you can find it in the supermarket, we can only buy this from the wet market and it's very cheap.

      Delete
  5. Hi Cheah, this must be a 'kocha' dish. Is the taste quite similar to Ayam Sioh or Babi Masak Assam? I like both these 2 dishes but couldn't find the time to cook it. Will try your recipe but must look for the belimbing first. Very appetising.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is 'kocha' dish? A bit similar, sourish, sweetish but no assam added as the belimbing is very sour on its own. On the contrary, need to add in sugar.

      Delete
    2. 'Kocha' is a Hokkien word. 'Kocha' dish meaning dishes from the olden days - dishes with Grandma or Mama's flavours.

      Delete
  6. Wow, I haven't seem belimbing in a long time! We had one in our garden too and we used to make char with it. Never thought to cook it with pork belly (we did not eat much pork anyway) but it makes sense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, this is indeed a country style oldie dish!

      Delete
  7. I am not sure I have ever seen the belimbing before...they look so interesting. The pork dish looks very tasty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Angie. This fruit tree is normally home grown and most probably one may find it in the wet market.

      Delete
  8. Love this dish. Hope I can have some :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, they are very sour eaten fresh, I haven't tasted the cooked ones yet, looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Cheah, this dish is so yummy.
    I love 'chee yau char' too.
    But don't dare to take too much...as you know it is not so health..lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I don't fancy 'chee yau char', so have omitted it in my dish. Just like you say, it's unhealthy.

      Delete
  11. Happy Mother's Day to you and have a blessed day with your family :) this kind of miss this dish..my grandma used to cook this with pork slices...mmm yummy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy Mother's Day to you too. Yes, only grandmas know how to come up with such dishes!

      Delete
  12. never tasted belimbing beofre but the way you described the fruit and its taste associate with this dish, it sounds pretty appetising !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe, if you were to ask your mum, she'll know.

      Delete
  13. I wonder if I could ever have the pleasure to taste Belimbing :-)
    But thanks to you and WHB at least I know a little about it!
    Thanks so much for your lovely recipe, WHB recap will be soon on-line.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm not sure if I ever tasted this kind of belimbing before. I saw them very often but not sure if I eaten it. Not the sour type, is it?
    Kristy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Think it's available in your area, they like to plant this in the kampong. It's super sour!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for dropping by. Please click on 'Anonymous' if you do not have a blog but do leave your name after the comment because I would like to know who you are.

Popular posts from this blog

Eel soup

This is an ABC soup with a difference.  Yes, there's fish in this soup ..... added a block of eel in it.  Curiosity was what prompted me to cook this soup.  I asked the fishmonger what is the best way to prepare this fish and he said that this eel makes a very tasty soup and I can't agree  more! Sweet and tasty soup with no fishy smell at all! Recipe for Eel Soup Ingredients 350 gm eel 2 carrots, cut into cubes 2 tomatoes,cut into wedges 3 onions, cut into wedges 2.5 lt of water 20  white peppercorns, crushed Seasalt to taste Method Clean up the fish, set aside. Put the water into a pot, bring to a boil and add in the carrots, tomatoes, onions and peppercorns. Simmer for a while and add in the eel. Cover, lower the heat to medium low and let the soup simmer for about 1.1/2 hours. Add salt to taste. Ladle and serve immediately. I'm sharing this recipe with  Recipe Box # 30  hosted by Bizzy Bakes

Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy ~ 梅菜焖五花肉

Mui Choy is preserved mustard greens and there are two types, one is salty while the other is sweet.  There are many ways of cooking mui choy with pork belly.  Instead of braising, you can steam it with minced pork but here I am using only the sweet mui choy and I braised the pork belly with it.  This is a flavourful dish and you can serve it with plain rice or plain porridge. Braised Pork Belly with Mui Choy   ~    梅菜焖五花肉 Ingredients  400 gm pork belly cut into bite size 100 gm  preserved sweet mui choy 3 cloves of garlic 2 slices ginger Seasoning for the pork belly 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce 1/4 Tbsp sugar 1/4 Tbsp sesame oil 1/4 Tbsp oyster sauce 1/2 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp light soya sauce Method Season the pork belly for about an hour or more.  Set aside. Soak the mui choy for 45 mins., rinse and squeeze dry.  Cut into slices Heat some oil in the wok, fry the mui choy.  Add in the ginger slices.  Stir-fry. Add in the pork  belly, fry for a while and

Herbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Gao

H erbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Ga o literally translated means 'Tortoise Jelly' is one of my family's favourite desserts.  It's much more economical to prepare this at home for you'll need to fork out between Rm 9 to Rm 11 for a bowl of this cooling dessert in any of those herbal tea outlets.  This soothing jelly, served chilled, is supposed to be able to help reduce our body heat, helps to get rid of toxins and is believed to be good for the skin thus culminating a healthier complexion.