I was craving for lu rou fan (braised pork rice). Literally felt like flying to Taiwan for Hu Xu Zhang 胡须张’s famed braised pork rice.
And so there… now we have the yummy dish. And I will share how you can use that sauce for 3 other dishes. This is really fast to prepare and even to cook cos the braised pork and lava eggs can be cooked overnight, and the rest are cooked in the rice cooker while your rice cooks.
Braised Pork Rice
Pork Belly 300g, cut into thin strips
Minced Pork 200g
Garlic half a clove, sliced
Ginger a small piece
Fried Shallots 2 tbsp (I use those ready cooked and bottled ones)
Sugar 1/2 cup
Chinese cooking wine 1/2 cup
Soy Sauce 3 tbsp
Dark soy sauce 2 tbsp
1/2 tsp five spice powder
Optional ingredients: Mushrooms, and corn flour (for thickening the sauce if you want)
In a pot, sautee the pork belly strips without any oil. The fats from the pork belly will be sufficient. After 10 minutes, pour in the minced pork, garlic and shallots, and sautee further. After 10 minutes, pour in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.
Add enough water to cover all the pork. Simmer for about 3-4 hours in a slow cooker or over low heat. This is so good you can just eat with rice, no need for other dishes actually!
Take out sufficient sauce to let cool for the lava eggs we will cook next.
Lava Egg (Ni-tamago, Ramen egg)
This is that super soft boiled egg that has a slightly runny core. OMG i was craving for this and i just had to google it and cook it today.
In a pot, bring water (sufficient to cover all eggs) to a boil. Simmer it after it has boiled and put in the eggs carefully. Cover and cook for 6.5 minutes. You have to be very precise about the timing else it will overcook. Once time is up, Shock cool the eggs by placing them in ice water. This stops the cooking so the core stays soft and runny.
After about 10-15 minutes, you can peel the eggs and dunk them into the cooled braised pork sauce that we made earlier. You can leave them in the sauce overnight in the fridge for everything to be infused!
Steam vegetables (steamed in rice cooker)
This is the simplest. I steam them in the rice cooker for about 8-10 minutes once the rice cooker has heated up. Lay the stems on a plate and then the leaves on top. Steam the stems for first 5 minutes, then add the leaves for another 3 minutes.
Once done, add the braised pork sauce, and lots of fried shallots!
Steamed Fish (steamed in rice cooker)
Prepare this while the vegetables are steaming. Once vegetables are steamed, put this fish in to steam.
Pinch of salt
1 fish steak (i use threadfin)
Ginger
Tomatoes
Scallions
Sesame oil
Rub salt all over the fish. Cut the ginger and scallions into thick chunks and lay onto the plate. Place the fish on top of these. Drizzle sesame oil (i like to brush it all over the fish so it keeps the fish nice and moist while cooking) Add some more sliced ginger. Place cut tomatoes at the side of the fish. Steam for 8-10 minutes. Drain the water in the plate. Add the braised pork sauce (you can add some water to dilute it), and ginger and scallion slices on top.
Busy SG Mummy 