Hi guys, Chinese New Year is around the corner, so making this traditional Hakka dish for festive season is common. This is a traditional recipe pass down from my family for few generations. Now is my turn to carry on the tradition. It is not a very difficult dish to cook but its time comsuming. It took me 5 days to complete this masterpiece. So, let me share with you all the steps of making this dish.
Step 1
Clean 3kg of fresh pork belly, cut it into 2 inches wide for 1 stripe, and boil it for 30 minutes, then remove all the impurities while boiling.
Step 2
After the pork bellies are cooked, rest them for 1 hour and marinade with light soy sauce for and leave inside refrigerator 1 day. Use cling wrap to wrap them so the meat will not be dehydrated inside the refrigerator.
Step 3
After the meat are done, deep fry them for 30minutes in medium high heat. Make sure to put a lid on top of the fryer to avoid hot oil splashing all over the place. Right after frying, rest the meat on a bowl of cold water for 1 hour to stop the cooking process to make the meat tender. The next step is to keep the meat in freezer and prepare the yam.
Step 4
Clean the yam and slice them into half inch thickness and in square shape. My advice is to wear FDA approved glove to handle the yam as the natural latex from the yam will make your skin itchy.
Step 5
After you are done the the cutting, deep fry the yam in medium heat for 15 minutes just like frying french fries.
When the colour turns golden brown, strain them up and let them to cool down.
Step 6
Cut the pork bellies half inch thickness to match the yam and arrange them accordingly in a bowl. Balance the lean and fatty meat in one bowl. If too lean, it will be very dry and if it it too fat, the dish will be oily. The outcome must be balance in taste. Keep the skin on the bottom of the bowl because the after the final process, the bowl needs to be turned upside down for serving.
Step 7
This part is the essence of this majestic dish. "The Sauce". We need sugar or honey, fermented red bean curd, rice wine, garlic, shallot, Chinese 5 spices, salt, and light soy sauce. After gathering all the ingredients, minced the garlic and shallot ane mixed all the ingredient into a big bowl before cooking them. I am using family made rice wine and home made bean curd.
Step 8
Pour the sauce on each bowl of the meat until full. The last process is steaming the pork bellies in a steamer for 3 hours in low heat and ready to be served.