This is an easy-to-make Taiwan Hakka dish but it needs to be prepared three days in advance.
Serves 3–4 as an appetiser
Ingredients
5–10 mm (1/2’’) thick slice of pork belly
½ cup Taiwan rice wine
2–3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper
3–4 cloves garlic, finely chopped (optional)
2 cups of finely sliced cabbage (or Chinese cabbage, lettuce)
Method
Curing Method
- Rinse pork.
- Pour rice wine in a large bowl. Immerse meat in it, then drain.
- Rub salt and pepper into both sides of meat.
- If using garlic, pat into one side of meat.
- Beginning at smallest end, roll pork tightly – garlic on inner side, wrap in plastic and store in refrigerator for 3 days.
Cooking Method
Method 1. Chuck pork belly on barbie (that's barbie as in barbecue, not Barbie as in Ken's girlfreind).
Method 2. Roast whole piece of meat at 225ºC (450ºF) for about 20 minutes or until crispy. Slice thinly across grain.
Method 3. Stir-fry: slice thinly across grain and stir fry at a medium heat until cooked and slightly crisp. Option: Add a vegetable such as celery, or leek when pork is nearly done.
Serve on a bed of cabbage. Serve with a garlic and rice wine vinegar dipping sauce, or alternatively, eat each piece of meat with a slice of raw leek.
Notes
The name in Chinese means ‘salty pork,’ and it is, so adjust the salt according to your tastes but not less than two teaspoons. Also goes well on a barbecue. Chinese call pork belly wu hua rou or ‘five pattern meat’ after the alternating layers of flesh, and fat in the crosscut of pork belly. |
