Dimple Maggot cooks : Braised Pork Belly "Tau Eu Bak"

This dish was inspired by my future father in law. One night, we packed some Wan Tan Mee and he made this to go with our mee. The first bite of the meat was so so tender and flavorful! It was by far the best Braised Pork Belly I've ever had and he took 4 hours to cook to perfection.

So I decided to try making it myself. I was surprised when the first time I tried making it, it turned out delicious. Although the taste is different from my future FIL's, it has its own unique taste to it. Very flavorful as well, not as tender but the fat was braised just at the right level and the meat wasn't too hard nor too soft. Maybe because I only did it for 2.5hours, didn't have time to make it 4 hours.

However, my future FIL's still the best! The term, melts in your mouth applies to his braised pork belly.

So here are the ingredients I used.

Ingredients (2 pax serving) :

• 1 strip of pork belly (or more if preferred)
• 4pcs of shiitake mushrooms, stumps removed
• 2 large dried fungus, chopped to smaller pieces
• 1 cloves of garlic
• half bowl soy sauce
• half bowl honey
• 3pcs of dried chilli

Method :

Soak mushrooms, fungus and dried chilli for an hour or until soft.

Put pork belly into ovenproof dish, pour soy sauce and honey, rub pork until evenly coated. Add mushrooms, fungus, garlic and dried chilli. If you like your dishes to be peppery, you may add pepper.

Tenderness of pork :

Medium : Have them baked at 200°C for two hours. Add half cup water and bake at 160°C for an hour

Soft : Add water till cover half of pork, have them baked at 200°C for two hours. Turn temperature to 160°C and bake for an hour. Continue baking at 140°C for an hour.