Braised Pork Belly with Coke

This simple dish is one of my favorite dishes.  My brothers and I loved drinking coke when we were young.  My mom liked buying a big bottle of coke for us during festive periods.  Sometimes we could not finish the whole bottle within one to two days.  Then the coke would go flat easily.  My mom liked cooking food with it.  

Last weekend my friends and their children came to visit us and we had a small party.  We enjoyed that evening very much.  We finished most of the food but there was a half-bottle of coke left.  I immediately think of this recipe which just takes about 20 minutes.  It is easy and yummy!

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

-      200g pork belly (thinly sliced)

-      6g garlic clove (crushed)

-      40g spring onion (chopped)

-      1 slice of ginger (sliced)                  

-      150 ml coke cola                              

-      ½ tsp olive oil

-      1½ tbsp light soy sauce

-      1½ tbsp rice wine or white wine

Method:

1.	Heat a non-stick pan with ¼ tsp olive oil over a medium heat.  Add pork belly and pan-fry both sides of each piece of pork belly until a bit golden brown.  Remove from heat, throw away the oil and set aside.
2.	Heat a non-stick pot with ¼ tsp olive oil over a medium heat.  Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry for one minute.  Toss in pork belly and stir-fry for another one minute.  Pour in coke, add soy sauce and rice wine.  Reduce to a lower heat, cover and simmer for 18-20 minutes until the sauce is reduced to one-third and thickened.  Check every 8-10 minutes to see whether it is too dry.
3.	In the meantime, add spring onion and cook for one minute.
4.	Serve with rice.

Stir-fried Pork Belly with Spring Onion

This morning I was very busy.  Today is the first day I start to be a volunteer at Oxfam.  I find people here are very kind-hearted and generous.  There are many bags of items donated by them within 3-4 hours, like books, shoes, clothes, accessories, sports equipment, toys, etc.  Some of them are new and even unpacked.  Some are with famous brand names.  The other volunteers are very helpful and friendly.  I had a very good morning to be there. 

When I finished my work, it was about 2 o’clock.  Then I rushed back home and made a quick and simple lunch – fried pork belly with spring onions and a bowl of egg noodles.  The pork belly is succulent and it is a nice pair to fry with spring onions.  I enjoy cooking for ‘one’ again.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

- 100g pork belly (shredded)

- 3 spring onions (diagonal cut)

- 1 garlic clove (sliced)

- ½ small red chili (sliced and seeded)  

- 1 shallot (sliced)

- 1 tsp oil

Seasoning:

-  ½ tsp sugar

- 1 tsp soy sauce

- ½ tsp white wine

- 1 tsp sesame oil

Sauce:

- 1 tsp soy sauce

- 1.5 tsp oyster sauce

- 1 tsp white wine

Method:

1.	Season the pork belly with sugar, soy sauce, white wine and sesame oil.  Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2.	Divide the spring onion into two small bowls, one bowl is for the white parts and another is for the green parts.
3.	Heat oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and white parts of spring onion in the pan and stir-fry for one minute.  Then put the pork inside the pan and stir-fry for another 3-4 minutes.
4.	In the meantime, add the shallot and green parts of spring onion inside the pan and continue to stir-fry for another 2 minutes.
5.	Pour the mixed sauce ingredients and red chili into the pan and stir-fry for 1 minute.
6.	Serve with rice or noodles.

焗蜜汁义燒 (Chinese Barbecue Pork Belly/Char Siu)

女兒非常喜歡吃义燒。每逢她回家吃飯，义燒必是其中一味餸菜。My daughter loves Char Siu very much.  She misses Chinese food a lot.  I always cook this dish when she comes home to have meals with us.  

焗蜜汁叉燒

準備時間：10分鐘

烹調時間：50分鐘

份量： 2-3人

材料：

Ø  梅頭豬肉 450克

醃料：

Ø  紹興酒 1湯匙

Ø  薑汁 2茶匙

Ø  生抽 1 湯匙

Ø  李錦記叉燒醬 4湯匙

Ø  蜜糖1湯茶匙

汁料：

Ø  麥芽糖1 湯匙

Ø  清水1 湯匙

 

做法：

1.	將梅頭豬肉洗淨，加入已拌勻的醃料，放入保鮮袋內，密封袋口。存放於雪櫃中一晚。
2.	焗爐預熱至200°C， 把醃好的豬肉放在焗盤中，倒進所有汁料。蓋上鋁箔紙，焗約35分鐘。
3.	將焗爐調低溫度至100°C，拿走鋁箔紙。用掃筆把焗盤中的焗汁均勻地塗在叉燒上後，焗 5分鐘。
4.	反轉叉燒另一面，重複塗上焗汁再焗 5分鐘。焗汁會慢慢收乾，义燒顏色漸變鮮紅。
5.	用暖水稀釋麥芽糖，在义燒表面塗勻麥芽糖水，焗2分鐘。反轉另一面，塗上麥芽糖水再焗 2分鐘。
6.	從焗爐取出，等待10分鐘後即可切片。

Chinese Barbecue Pork Belly (Char Siu/Cha Shao)

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Serve: 2-3

Ingredients:

Ø  450 gm skinless pork belly or pork shoulder

Char Siu Sauce:

Ø  1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine

Ø  2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger juice

Ø  1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Ø  4 tablespoons Lee Kum Kee Chinese Sauce (Chinese Barbecue Marinade)

Ø  1 tablespoon honey

Maltose Sauce:

Ø  1 tablespoon Maltose

Ø  1 tablespoon hot water

Method:

1.	Rinse and cut the skinless pork belly or pork shoulder in 2 long strips. Mix all the Char Siu Sauce ingredients and marinate the strips and then put them in a ziplock bag in a fridge for overnight.  Massage it so the marinade is all over the pork strips
2.	Preheat oven to 200°C.  Line a baking tray with non-stick paper and set a wire rack on top. Place the pork strips on the rack. Then cover the strips with kitchen foil. Bake for 35 minutes. Keep the Char Siu Sauce left in the bag.
3.	Lower heat to 100°C. Uncover and throw away the foil. Brush the remaining Char Siu Sauce over the pork strips and bake for 5 minutes.
4.	Turn over the pork strips and brush the Char Siu Sauce on top of them. Bake for another 5 minutes.
5.	Dilute the maltose in hot water and dab it on the pork strips.  Bake for 2 minutes. Turn and repeat on the other side.  Then bake for another 2 mintues.
6.	Leave the pork strips to cool to room temperature (about 10 minutes) before slicing.