Hong Shao Rou (Red Cooked Pork Belly)

The husband was browsing my Saveur magazine and he came across a section on Chinese food. He told me that he will cook all the dishes from that Chinese stir fry section for me and he did on my birthday!
The Hong Shao Rou (translated to Red Cooked Pork Belly by Saveur) was our favorite.  This was one of the yummiest pork I’ve eaten. I’m so proud of the husband to be able to whip up such delicious and additive dish (Thanks, Saveur for the great recipe). Now the husband has another dish to add to his repertoire. I wonder when will he start baking???
We enjoyed the Hong Shao Rou SO MUCH the husband cooked more 2 days later, doubling the portion..so that we have more to eat and can eat it over 2 days. I made sure the husband wrote down the variation he did and measured everything precisely. Besides doubling the portion, he substituted the fresh chili for dried chili. Click HERE, if you’re interested to see Saveur’s original version. They should have warned us that this dish can be quite additive!!
It was extremely hard rationing the pork belly so that it last us 2 days..we were so tempted to just gobble the meat down in one sitting! It was THAT GOOD! That weekend, with a total of 3 Hong Shao Rou meals…I felt like a pig… my belly felt like big fat slab of pork belly. Serve me right for being such a glutton! Here’s the husband’s tweaked version of Hong Shao Rou! Let me know if you guys enjoyed it as much as we did!!

HONG SHAO ROU RECIPE
Ingredients:

• 2 lb. Boneless Pork Belly Cut Into 3/4” Strips
• 2 Leeks, White & Light Green Parts Only, Roughly Chopped
• 2” Piece Ginger, Peeled & Thinly Sliced
• 12 Dried Chili
• 6 Pcs/Cubes Red Fermented Tofu, Mashed
• 4 Tsp Liquid from Red Fermented Tofu
• 1 Tbsp Canola Oil
• 2 Tsp Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Dark (Sweet) Sao sauce
• 4 Bay Leaves
• 4 Star Anise
• Salt
• 15-17 Cups Water

Method:
Bring 10-12 cups salted water to a boil in a pot. Add pork and cook for 5 minutes. Drain pork and set aside. Wipe out wok (or use a stainless-steel skillet instead). Set over high heat until wok begins to smoke. Add oil around edge of wok, swirling to coat bottom and sides. Stir fry dried chili and ginger for about 30 seconds. Then add leeks and cook, tossing constantly, until fragrant, about another 30 seconds. Add blanched pork and cook, tossing often, for 3 minutes.
Add sugar, soy sauce, tofu and its liquid, and salt and cook, tossing, until ingredients are browned, about 6 minutes. Add 5 Cups of water, bay leaves, and star anise and let it come to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer until pork is tender, about 40–50 minutes.
Uncover, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring, until liquid reduces to 4tbsp about 10-15 minutes.
June’s Comments: If you want more liquid/in your pork, you can just cook it in high heat for about 5 minutes instead of 10-15 minutes. Serve this over warm rice or even steamed Man Tou…

Simply June