Time for a two-for-one recipe! I finally found a caramelized pork belly recipe I loved. I have tried a bunch of different recipes but none even came close to this one. They always end up either not tender enough or way overcooked. This caramelized pork belly is sweet, salty, sticky, and melts in your mouth. It will take a while to make so plan to allocate at least 2.5 hours to prep and cook. Then, there's the ramen egg. I make ramen eggs a lot. It's always a really good umami bomb and sometimes my kids will just have one for a snack. It's perfect in ramen (obviously), over rice or fried noodles, or even on its own. You will need to prepare the eggs the day before you want to use then so they have time to marinade and soak up all that goodness. They will keep in the fridge for 3 days (if you have willpower, I never can keep these longer than a day or two), after that the eggs become way too salty for me.
Caramelized Braised Pork Belly Ingredients:
2 lbs pork belly, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 green onions, sliced into large pieces (for blanching liquid)
2 green onions, sliced thin
2 tbsp pureed ginger
2 tbsp peanut oil (vegetable oil works too)
3 tbsp white granulated sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp dark sweet soy sauce (if not available, use 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce with 1 1/2 brown sugar mixed together)
1/3 cup Shaoxing cooking wine (can be substituted for dry sherry)
2 cups reserved blanching liquid
2 star anise pods
Caramelized Braised Pork Belly Instructions:
Combine soy sauce, dark sweet soy sauce, and 1 tbsp of pureed ginger in a small bowl and set aside.
Put the cubed pork belly into a large pot and cover completely with water. Add green onions and ginger. Put over high heat until it reaches a full boil then let boil for 5 minutes. Skim the foam that rises to the top as it boils until the blanching liquid is clear. Keep 2 cups of the blanching liquid.
Strain the pork belly into a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process then dry the pork thoroughly with paper towels.
In a large Dutch oven (you will need one with a lid), melt the peanut oil and sugar together over low heat. Be very careful to not let the sugar burn. You want a nice light caramel color.
Add pork and stir to coat. Fry each side for one minute until golden brown, being careful to not burn.
Add Shaoxing wine and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
Add reserved blanching liquid, sauce mixture, and thinly sliced green onions. Mix well.
Increase the heat to medium low, cover but leave a tiny gap to allow a bit of steam to escape, then let braise for 1.5 hours.
Stir every 15 minutes or so. Keep an eye out on the sauce to prevent over-reducing. You will want a bit of sauce to remain in the pan at the end of the cooking process. If the sauce is reducing too quickly, lower the heat.
Serve immediately over steamed rice.
Recipe adapted from: Omnivore's Cookbook
Ramen Egg Ingredents:
8 large brown eggs
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup sake
1 cup water
1 tbsp dashi powder
Ice water
Ramen Egg Instructions:
Combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, water, and dashi powder in a small sauce pan. Put over medium low heat until simmering. Remove from heat and let cool.
In a medium sized pot, boil water over medium heat. Once boiling, lower heat to medium low and gently place eggs in one by one and simmer for 8 minutes.
Remove eggs and place into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process for 10-15 minutes then peel the eggs carefully.
Place eggs in a container then pour the cooled marinade on top until eggs are fully covered. Refrigerate overnight then serve cold or in a hot broth.
Recipe adapted from: Went There 8 This
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