Chinese-style Braised Pork Belly

This is my take on a great Chinese hotpot recipe.  It’s simple to prepare and delicious on a cold day.  Perfect with steamed rice and some stir-fried greens. This recipe serves four.

Ingredients

About 800g of pork belly, cut into 1-inch pieces (about the size of two dominoes)
1 tablespoon of Chinese five spice
1 teaspoon of oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
About 2 inches of raw ginger, chopped
1 cup of water or stock
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
1 tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce or 1 chopped small chilli (unless you can’t handle a little heat)
1 tablespoon of sugar
3-4 medium sized potatoes, diced
4 eggs

Method

1. Heat the oil in a deep dish pot on medium-high heat. In a bowl, mix the Chinese five spice, garlic and ginger in with the pork. Once the oil is hot, fry the pork in the pot.

2. In a bowl, stir together the stock, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce (or chopped chillis) and sugar.

3. When the pork is lightly browned, pour the stock mixture into the pot. Once the stock starts to boil, turn down the heat, put the lid on the pot and let simmer for about an hour.

4. After the hour, add the potatoes into the pork. Also, start boiling the eggs in a separate pot so they are hard boiled. Once the eggs are cooked, peel them and add them to the pot with the pork.

[To hardboil an egg, place the eggs in cold water on the stove on high heat. Once the water starts to boil (but not a rolling boil), start the clock and after 7 minutes the egg will be cooked through]

5. About 20 minutes after you have added the eggs to the pot, it should all be ready. With steamed rice and stir-fried greens, serve the pork in a large bowl placed in the centre of the table!