Shanghai-Style Braised Pork Belly (Hong Shao Rou)

• servings: 8 servings
• active time: 15 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds lean, skin-on pork belly

2 tablespoons oil (any neutral oil, such as canola, vegetable, or avocado oil)

2 tablespoons rock sugar (or granulated sugar)

1/3 cup Shaoxing wine

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

3 cups water

Directions

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cut your pork belly into 3/4-inch thick pieces. Add them to the boiling water, and blanch for 2 minutes. This removes impurities and starts the cooking process. Take the pork out of the pot, rinse, and set aside. (Discard the blanching water.)

Over low heat, add the oil and sugar to your wok. Melt the sugar, and add the pork. Raise the heat to medium, and cook until the pork is lightly browned.

Reduce the heat to low, and add the wine, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water.

Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until pork is fork tender. Every 5-10 minutes, stir to prevent burning and add more water if it gets too dry.

Once the pork is fork tender, if there is still a lot of visible liquid, uncover the wok, turn up the heat, and stir continuously until the sauce has reduced to a glistening coating.

Nutrition

• Calories: 443 kcal
• Total Fat: 52 g
• Saturated Fat: 17 g
• Cholesterol: 61 mg
• Sodium: 411 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 4 g
• Total Sugars: 3 g
• Protein: 9 g