Tau Yu Bak (Braised Pork Belly in Soy Sauce) 豆油肉

by wiffy on August 16, 2010

in Asian,Braising/Simmering,Chinese,Curries & Stews,Meat,Mum's Recipes,Pork,Recipes,Singapore

True taste of home-cooked food: “Tau Yu Bak” 豆油肉

I grew up eating this dish so this is true taste of home-cooked food to me. Salty and savoury, this dish goes really well with rice and steamed buns (for kong bak bao 扣肉包). Every family has a different way of cooking this dish. My family’s version is quite no fuss – just one type of soy sauce (dark) and no need to grind garlic (or shallots). I re-created the dish from memory of the taste and I let my mum taste test the dish and she said it was good. She liked that the sauce is just the right amount – not too much so it’s still aromatic (but enough to drizzle rice and soak the meat). The recipe is also very forgiving (for example, if too much soy, add more water) and flexible (If you need to add more water, soy sauce or rock sugar to season, do so a little at a time, so that it’s easier to adjust). Do not overdose on the spices (like star anise, cinnamon) because a little goes a long way.

Serving suggestion (with rice)

I was secretly feeling a little pleased with myself after whipping up this dish, until my mum told me that this, to her, is considered “VERY easy cooking – I cook this for the family last time when I am feeling lazy”. Mummy is so frank :P

Ingredients
(serves 3-4)
- 500g pork belly, no need to slice (that works out to 4 slabs of meat for me)
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce 酱油
- 1 litre water
- 4 eggs (or any amount you like)

Some of the ingredients

(A) Stewing Ingredients
- 8 dried Chinese mushrooms
- 1 cinnamon stick 桂皮
- 1 star anise 八角
- 4 cloves 丁香
- 4 small pieces rock sugar 冰糖 (see picture above)
- 1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder 五香粉
- 1.5 bulbs of garlic, separated into individual cloves (do not need to peel)
- dash of white pepper powder

Directions
1. Soak dry mushrooms in small bowl of hot water till puffy, then drain water. Squeeze out the water from mushrooms and trim away stems. Set aside.
2. Prepare 80% cooked hard boiled eggs. To do that, place eggs in saucepan of cold water (enough water to cover eggs one layer). Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes, off the flame and cover with lid for about 7 minutes (for 100% hard boiled eggs, it’s about 10 minutes). Rinse the eggs with cold water till they are cooled. Peel when cool enough to handle. Set aside.
3. In a pot or wok (this will be what you will be using for the braising later), brown pork belly on both sides on medium heat (about 5 minutes for me on each side – see photo below). Do not wash the pot or wok because you want the juices from browning the meat in the stew.
4. Add half of the dark soy (1.5 tbsp) directly over the meat on one side, flip over, and drizzle the remaining dark soy over the other side of the meat.
5. Add water and the ingredients in A. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer (with lid partially closed) for an hour.
6. Check the water level to ensure that the braising sauce is not dried out during the simmering. You will need to add more water (a little at a time) when the water is drying out.
7. Add peeled hard boiled eggs prepared in step 2 to the stew. Taste and season the sauce (example – for sweeter, add rock sugar; for saltier, add more dark soy; not enough gravy, add more water etc). I usually add about 4 more cubes of rock sugar at this point because I want a bit of sweetness to balance the saltiness. Simmer for another 15 minutes.
8. When it’s ready to serve, take out the pork belly and slice to desired length. Serve with rice or steamed buns. Garnish with spring onions or coriander.

Browning whole stabs of pork belly for more favour in the stew (step 3)

Putting all the ingredients together (step 5)

Cooking Note
1. I did not add oil to the wok in Step 3 because I left the fat on the pork belly (for favour). If you trim away the fats, you may need some oil.

Variations
1. You can add other ingredients such as tau kwa (fried beancurd/豆干) and tau kee (fried beancurd skin – the type for braising, not for fuchok) at step 7.
2. If you want marbled eggs (like Chinese tea leaf eggs), do not peel the eggs. Instead, gently tap the exterior of the eggs with the back of the spoon to form cracks evenly around the egg, careful to leave the entire shell still intact and covering the egg. This will create the beautiful “marbled” look and also allow the flavours to seep through the eggs.