From Mom
Notes: on an electric stove, medium heat or sometimes medium-high heat worked better than medium-low for the parboil and initial stir-fry. Instead of a wok, a medium-sized Dutch oven worked as well.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs pork belly (try to buy a piece with less fat/more meat)
- 1 Tbsp neutral cooking oil (i.e., vegetable or canola)
- 2 Tbsp rock candy 冰糖 (may substitute with brown sugar)
- 4 pieces green onion, cut into 2 inch sections
- 6 slices/coins of ginger
- 2 star anise pods 八角
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 dried red hot pepper
- 10 Sichuan peppercorns
- 5 pieces dried sand ginger slices 沙姜片 (may substitute with dried galangal slices)
- 2/3 cup Shaoxing wine
- 2 Tbsp light soy sauce 生抽
- 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce 老抽
- 1 Tbsp Chinkiang vinegar (may substitute with others brands of Chinese black vinegar)
- 4-8 oz roasted chestnuts
Directions:
- Get rid of stinky pork smell:
Cut Pork belly into 1.25 inch by 1.25 inch square; put them into a large pot. Add tap water into the pot until the water is 1 inch above the meat. Put the pot on medium low heat until water and meat have been boiling for about 5 minutes. Take out the meat, wash them in warm water to get rid of all brown blood. Drain the meat to get rid of extra water. - Put a wok on medium low heat, add cooking oil, meat, and sugar; stir-fry them until sugar is melted. Add the rest of spices except cooking wine. Add cooking wine (2/3 cup or less or more) until the meat is about 1/2 covered by liquid. Cover the wok and bring liquid to boil, then turn heat to low (simmering with very small bubbles). After 10 minutes, do step 3.
- Open the cover, stir the meat so that outer pieces are changed into inner locations. Add the chestnuts. Cover the wok
- After another 20 minutes, repeat step 3; another 20 minutes, repeat step3. Check the liquid level to avoid the meat getting burned. The final product should have only a Tbsp liquid plus oil (more oil came out during cook). If there is too little liquid, add some warm water.
- Repeat 3 in every 5 minutes until meat can be easily poked through by a pair of chopsticks. From the first coving the wok to the end, it takes about 55 minutes.
- Turn off heat. Take meat into a plat/bowl but leave all spices in the wok. Take out big pieces of spice such as ginger, green onions. Hold a strainer over the meat plat/bowl, pour the gravy along with small piece spice into the strainer. Throw away the spice.