Spiced belly pork with rice

This is a slightly different take on a classic chinese side dish that my grandma used to make. Crystal boiled pork is a dish usually served cold with a piquant dressing as a side dish or an accompaniament to drinks. If served in a banquet, this dish would appear as part of the first cold platter course.

No amount of Googling would yield an online approximation of the copy I have in The Food Of China published by Murdoch Books. The closest recipe I could find was this. The idea and preparation is the same but served with a different sauce. It could be because it is such a simple dish to prepare. Basically the pork, be it belly or leg, is simmered in a pot of water for a time and then left in the boiling liquid to cool. After some refrigeration, the meat is removed from the liquid, sliced up thinly and served with an appropriate dressing poured over it.

Spices

My version takes the same principles and adds a few spices to flavour the meat itself. The predominant flavour I wanted was flowery aroma and tongue tingling senasation of the Sichuan Pepper. During the cooking process the fragrant, floral aromas wafting from the pot was quite intoxicating. Not to mention saliva inducing. As a contrast to the floral high notes of the pepper, I’ve added star anise and cinnamon for some sweet, but subtle undertones.

Sliced and diced

The final result is an aromatic, brightly scented but subtly flavoured slices of tender pork. The essence of the peppers, having fully permeated the pork, resulting in a slight astringency and a not unpleasant hint of numbness on the tongue. Even though I’ve salted the meat prior to cooking, the final dish still needs a bit more of a saline hit to fully bring those delicate flavours to the fore.

While normally served cold, I’ve broken from tradition a little and heated the pork slices up and served it over a bed of rice and shredded cabbage as a one dish dinner.

Spiced belly pork with riceSliced and dicedImmersionStage oneSpices

Information

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes + 2 to 4 hours immersion time
Serves: 2 large portions or 3 regular portions

What’s in it

  • 1.5 litres (6 cups) of water
  • 2 tbsp sichuan peppers
  • 3 star anise
  • 2 sticks cinnamon (about 3in/7cm long each)
  • 3 tsp salt
  • 500g belly pork

How I made it

Dry roast the sichuan peppers, star anise and cinnamon. Once the spices start to smoke, remove from heat. In a medium sized pot, add water and the toasted spices and bring to a boil. As the water warms up, the sichuan peppers will leach and stain the water a light caramel brown.

While waiting for the immersion liquid to boil, clean the pork belly and pat dry. Trim any excess so you have a roughly rectangular block. Season and rub with salt. When the water has come to a boil, gently lower the pork, skin side up, into the liquid. Turn the heat down immediately and allow to simmer gently for 45 minutes. At the end of the cooking period, turn off the heat and allow to cool in the liquid for approximately 2 hours. More if you have the time. At this point, it is customary to refrigerate the meat in the cooking liquid for a further 2 – 4 hours. But I cheated and used the meat once it has cooled down.

When you are ready to serve, remove the pork and pat dry. Place the pork skin side down and using a sharp knife, trim away the skin and a little of the top layer of fat. Slice the pork thinly against the grain.

There are several ways to serve the pork:

  • Served cold with a spicy chilli and vinegar dressing as a side dish.
  • Stir fried with some ginger, spring onion, soy and sesame oil.
  • Over rice, as I have done, with a spring onion, garlic and soy dressing.

To make the spicy dressing: combine 2 tbsp of chilli oil, 2 tbsp of brewed vinegar and 2 tbsp of sugar in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar has disolved. Adjust with salt and sugar to taste. Allow the dressing to cool for 5 minutes before drizzling over the pork.

To make the garlic dressing: saute 2 finely minced cloves of garlic in 2 tbsp of oil. When the garlic starts to brown and is fragrant, add the chopped spring onion. Once the onion has softened, add soy sauce to taste. Drizzle over the meat.