Dionne's Braised Pork with Egg and Tofu

Some of the best pork I've ever had has been in Asia. They know there how to make pork melt in your mouth, and make the fat on pork belly so crispy that it's not just edible but delectable. I thought I wasn't big on pork growing up, but after now living for years in countries where pork is hard to come by, I have realized how much I love it. Maybe there really is something to the saying that we want what we can't have.

This is not a dish that I had ever had in Canada. And my sister openly told me after seeing the photo that she didn't think it looked very appetizing. That's just because she's never tried it. It is absolutely delicious. You wouldn't believe how excited I was to have this dish: it was a task to source the meat, and I had to specially order spices to make the five-spice powder that the recipe calls for. (You can buy premixed Chinese 5-Spice powder, but I would recommend making your own if it's expensive to buy, because you may want extra Sichuan peppers at some point for a recipe, and the rest of the spices are probably ones you'd already have. There's a great recipe for it here.)

I would recommend trying it if you like Chinese and Southeast Asian food, and want to try something new. I got the recipe from a Malaysian friend, so it is maybe a Malaysian rendition, but is definitely quite Chinese as well. I'd serve it with rice and braised mustard greens, baby bok choy, or oyster mushrooms. I don't have either of those vegetables here right now, so later I'm going to it with rice and braised green beans.

One note on the meat in this recipe: in the recipe it simply called for fatty pork, and recommends pork shoulder. When I went to the butcher and asked for that, I felt I came away with what looked like a pork chop attached to some pork belly, which I then cubed myself. Although I don't love the pork belly fat, it's good to have at least some cubed pork fat in this recipe, as the fat helps make a tastier sauce. So if you also are more keen on the meat than the fat, I'd suggest you do use a combination of the fatty pork (pictured above) as well as a meatier cut, and cube it all evenly. If you don't eat all the fat, you can always save the extra, along with pork bones, to add to soup broth later.

Dionne's Braised Pork with Egg and Tofu

Ingredients:

• 500 g pork, cut into square cubes (should have a bit of fat)
• 250 g tofu, cut into large triangles 
• 3 boiled eggs
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 5 shallots, or 1 medium onion, finely diced or sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed 
• 2 thumbs of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2 tsp palm sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1.5 cup water (you can add more while cooking if it evaporates too quickly)
• 1 tsp five spice powder (you can make your own via the recipe here)
• 1 star anise
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan or wok, add the shallots or onion, ginger and garlic, and fry on medium low until fragrant
2. Add the sugar and salt and stir to dissolve
3. Add the pork chunks and stir fry for 3-5 minutes to sear the meat
4. Add the water, pepper, sauces and spices, stir to combine and bring to a boil. Simmer for 3-5 minutes, and top up the water a little
5. Add the boiled egg and tofu and braise on low heat for 20-30 minutes
6. Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference
7. Add more water, if you want more volume in the sauce, and then bring back to the boil briefly to combine the flavours again
8. Serve with rice and a vegetable side, such as braised mustard greens or bok choy, or stir fried oyster mushrooms with chicken broth, sugar, garlic, shallot and chili (you can probably see which vegetable I'd choose from the more detailed description)

Enjoy!