October 7, 2019

Braised Pork with Rice, Lu Rou Fan (滷肉饭)

I’ve recently started to crave braised pork with rice, lu rou fan (滷肉饭) often. Even though I didn’t grow up eating this dish at home, it still tastes homey. I, in particular, find myself craving this when hungover — file under: weird hangover cravings. While it takes a bit of time to assemble everything together and slice the pork (a sharp knife makes all the difference!) and mince the shallots and garlic, the cooking part itself is pretty low maintenance.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb pork shoulder or pork belly, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 4 small shallots, minced
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp shaoxing rice wine
  • 1/2 tsp 5 spice
  • 1 small piece rock sugar
  • 1/2 piece large bamboo shoot – fresh or frozen, diced
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 cup water
  • cooking oil
  • To serve: rice, boiled bok choy, soft-boiled eggs

Directions:

  1. Heat up 1 tbsp oil in wok/pan, add in the pork and cook over medium heat until pork is cooked, ~10 minutes. Remove from pan.
  2. Add 1/2 tbsp oil to the pan and saute shallots and garlic until shallots are translucent
  3. Add pork back into the pan along with sauces, sugar, star anise, spices, and bamboo shoots. Mix well
  4. Add 1 cup of water to pan and allow it to simmer on low heat for 45 minutes
  5. Add in 1/2 tsp of starch and mix to allow sauce to thicken
  6. Serve with rice, vegetables, and eggs