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Monday 3 September 2012

Braised Pork Belly in Root Beer

Hi my friends........ I have been quiet lately with my posting as I have been unwell and didn't really done much with my baking and cooking.

Well, if I am not really in the mood to cook, braising meat is the solution for me because I feel it is easy to cook.

This is the first time I am using a fizzy drink "Root Beer" to braise meat and I was really in doubt how the taste would came out.  


Braised Pork Belly in Root Beer
Recipe from Noob Cook  with slight changes  

 
Ingredients
8 dried Chinese mushrooms
4 eggs
1-2 tbsp cooking oil
500 grams pork belly
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 can (330 ml) root beer
750 ml water
1 cinnamon stick (桂皮)
1 star anise (八角)
4 cloves (丁香)
1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder (五香粉)
1.5 bulbs garlic separated into individual cloves (no need to peel)
dashes of white pepper powder to taste
1-2 tbsp light soy sauce *
1 tbsp sugar to taste *
1-2 piece tau kwa (fried beancurd/豆干) quartered
spring onions or coriander garnishing

Method

1.  Soak dry mushrooms in small bowl of hot water until puffy, then drain water. Squeeze
     out the water from mushrooms and trim away stems. Set aside the mushroom.

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, turn
      off the stove and cover with lid for about 7 minutes (for 100% hard boiled eggs, it’s
      about 10 minutes). Rinse the eggs with cold water until eggs are cooled. Peel when
      cool enough to handle. Set aside.

3.  Heat oil in casserole (wok, claypot or deep pot). Brown pork belly on both sides on
      medium heat. Add 1 tbsp dark soy sauce on both sides of browned pork belly.
     Add the rest of the ingredients except eggs, tau kwa and spring onions/coriander.
     Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer (with lid partially closed) for an hour, or
     until the meat is tender.

4.  During the last 10 minutes of simmering, add eggs and tau kwa. To serve, slice pork
      belly to smaller, bite-sized pieces. 


*  Add the light soy sauce and sugar according to your preference taste.



This dish is delicious; with 1 hour slow braise the meat is tender and you wouldn't even taste that the root beer is added in because the spices are much stronger in its taste and aroma!



Remember to serve this together with your favourite chilli sauce........

 

10 comments:

  1. Interesting, cooking with Root Beer. Bet the meat just melt in your mouth. Hope you are much much better now. Take care!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Veronica
      Thank you for your well wishes. Yes the pork belly is soft and tender after an hour so slow braise.

      Delete
  2. Hi Mel, How you doin'? Hope you getting better by now. Your braised meat look delicious but interesting recipe using root beer. Can taste the root beer? But I prefer the mushroom and the egg :)

    Have a nice week ahead, regards. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Amelia
      I am feeling better now. This dish you don't really taste the root beer in it because the spices taste and aroma are much stronger.

      Delete
  3. When I saw "root beer" I was immediately interested. How strange I thought. Hah! Hah! But it turns out very nice and it does look so delicious. I hope that you are feeling much better. Please take care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Phong Hong
      When I first came across this recipe using root beer to braise the meat, it gets me curious too; so I got to cook it to find out.
      Thanks for you well wishes.

      Delete
  4. I hope you're feeling better by now. Sorry to hear that you're not feeling too well. I have to agree, braising is the easiest when you don't feel like slaving in the kitchen. heheh.... I make this dish from time to time but never tried it with root beer! Gotta give this a try when I make it again next time. It's a wonderful dish for fall and winter too. :) Take care and hope you feel better soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Amy for your well wishes to me! I am feeling better now. I like to cook meat using braising because I feel it is much easier to cook this way (ha..you can call me lazy!). Braising meat good to go with some chilli sauce too.

      Delete
  5. Root beer! I haven't had that for a long time and you used it for cooking? Coke is popular soda to cook with but root beer is first time for me. The pork belly in root beer... that sounds funny but I think just like coke this dish is delicious! It looks yummy too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Mel! Are you feeling better now? I hope you are. Miss your posts.

    The belly looks yummy and I like beancurd cooked this way.

    ReplyDelete