Thursday, March 25, 2010

Here we have our pork belly dish that we serve in the Highland Restaurant very easy to do at home. If you follow the recipe you can not go wrong.

Pork belly 1
Water 3 L
Chinese cooking wine 1 cup
Ginger sliced 1 large knob
Garlic sliced 6 cloves
Asian shallots sliced 6
Light soy sauce 1 cup
Dark soy sauce .5 cup
Rock sugar .5 cup
Star anise 4 pieces
Cinnamon stick 3
Dried mandarin peel 3 pieces
Shitake mushrooms dried 12

Place pork belly into a pot, you can cut the belly in half to fit into your pot. Add the water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins skimming every few minutes. Add the cooking wine, ginger and garlic simmer for 30 mins. Add shallots, soy sauces, rock sugar, star anise, cinnamon and peel simmer for 1.5 hours. Remove belly from stock and place on a tray, to get uniform thickness place another tray on top and place weights on the top tray. place in fridge over night. Place the cooking liquid in the fridge over night as ,well do not strain. Soak the shitake mushrooms over night in cold water. The next day take the cooking liquid out of the fridge, remove the layer of fat that will have set and bring to the boil, Strain the liquid into another pot add the drained shitake mushrooms bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mins. Take the belly and score the skin with a sharp knife. Potion belly how you like, I have done this dish with the belly sliced and in little bricks both work well. remove shitake mushrooms from stock and reduce stock to desired consistency. Place pieces of belly skin side down into a hot pan or onto a grill to crisp up the skin. Place into a hot oven ,for little brick pieces about 10 mins. If you have sliced the belly then you can just cook in a pan on both sides for a few minutes. Steam some asian greens, place onto a plate or platter, heat the shitake mushrooms in the sauce and place onto the plate or platter. Pour on some sauce and enjoy. Once you have made this dish you can adjust the flavor to your taste. You can add some chili if you like it spicy. If the belly is not covered by the cooking liquid then place a small plate onto the bell and add some weights on top of the plate to push the belly under. Chinese cooking wine, rock sugar and dried mandarin peel are available at asian food stores. Light soy, dark soy, cinnamon sticks, star anise and dried shitake mushrooms you can find at the supermarket. I hope you enjoy this dish more to come.


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