Lu-rou Rice/Braised Pork Belly with Rice, a healthier version

Lu-rou Rice is a famous Taiwaness one bowl meal. Lu-rou means pork belly braised for a long time in soy sauce and mixed herbs. It’s one of my family’s popular dishes. Pork belly is a part of fatty meat. For making it least greasy, I like to use firm tofu and dry shiitake mushroom, instead of pure meat. They taste like meat and even more delicious after slow-cooking in aromatic sauce.

• Ingredients – Serve 4
  Pork belly, 400g. I like to use pork belly with skin, so that the sauce would be stickier after cooking;
  Dry shiitake mushroom, 60g. Try to use good quality dry shiitake mushroom, those thick ones;
  Extra firm tofu, 1 piece, 150g. Make sure the tofu you use wouldn’t break easily while stirring;
  Egg, one for each serving;
  Ginger, 30g;
  Bay leave, 3;
  Star anise, 2;
  Chinese red pepper, 1tbsp, or black pepper;
  Dried tangerine peel, 1 piece. Use orange peel if you can’t obtain;
  Crystal sugar, 30g, or simple table sugar;
  Dark soy sauce, 2tbsp;
  Light soy sauce, 2/5cup;
  Chinese cooking wine, 2/5cup.

How to do –
1. Prepare the ingredients. Dry mushroom washed then soaked in hot water for an hour or cold water overnight till soft, keep the water that soaked the mushroom, then diced; pork belly also diced into similar size; tofu also diced into similar size; egg poached and shelled; ginger sliced thickly;

2. Heat a little oil in hot pan in high heat, put in the pork, pan-fry till golden and fat released;

3. Move aside, put in the tofu cubes, also pan-fry till golden;

4. Turn to medium heat, put in ginger and all herbs, flip and fry till fragrant;

5. Then move everything into a casserole; put in mushroom, eggs, all seasoning ingredients, the mushroom-soaked water, and water till everything just covered. Mix well, lid on, and bring to boil in high heat, then simmer for 1 hour in medium low heat. Stir once or twice halfway, and a taste, adjust with a little more sugar or soy sauce;

6. Heat off after one hour but keep the lid on and let it sit for more 20 minutes;

7. Serve with steamed rice for sure, and also some green vegetables, I love to add some of my home-made pickled cucumber.