Lor Bak / Braised Pork

A funny thing happened the first time i attempted to make lor bak. I had braised the meat for hours in its gravy and at last got the consistency and tendency that i had wanted. When it was time to serve, i was busy so my husband decided to give a helping hand...by draining the gravy away into the sink!!!! He thought it was just lots of oil. So, we had a sauceless lor bak dinner, with a very black face chef and a very frightened husband. :)

ingredients:
3 layer pork
2 cloves garlic, crushed
premium dark soya sauce / kecap manis
sugar
5 spice powder
3 star anise
1 cinnamom bark /kayu manis
3-4 cloves
water

1. Marinate the pork with kecap manis/dark soya and 5 spice powder all over. Let to stand for 30 minutes.

Warm some cooking oil in a big pot/wok and throw in the garlic, star anise, cinnamon and cloves until fragrant. Add in the marinated pork. and fry till brown on all sides. Add in water, dark soya sauce/kecap manis and sugar and stew the meat till tender. This can take easily from 1 - 3 hours, depending on the size and tenderness of the meat. Add in more 5 spice powder, sugar or water if needed and taste. Adjust taste to your liking.

After meat is cooked, drain the gravy into a BOWL and slice the meat into bitesize pieces. Serve the meat with the gravy on the side.

Braised Pork trotters/leg

This is Kai's favourite dish. Mom makes this whenever Kai is in town because she knows how much Kai appreciate this fatty, sinful dish. It is such a simple dish to prepare, yet looks and taste so luxurious, fit for a king. There are variants to this dish. The Cantonese community cooks this dish with sweetened black vinegar and tons of ginger. It is a confinement dish which is suppose to cleanse and purge the impurities from the body after birth.

Mom's braise pork trotters is more a Hakka dish. There's no vinegar involved and it taste more savoury than the Cantonese version. She loves to add a dash of home-made rice wine before serving and OHHHHHH, so wonderful, sinfully delicious. I always forget to take a photo when mom cooks this dish and so now, i'm left with no photos to show on my blog.

Ingredients:
1-2 tbps cooking oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pork leg / pork trotters
Shitake mushroom (soak in water till soft)
2-3 tbps light soya sauce
2-3 tbps dark soya sauce
4-5 tbps water
3-4 whole garlics
1 whole chilli
2 tbps rice wine
2 tbps sherry/port wine

Method:
heat up a wok or deep pot and fry the minced garlic with oil. Add in the pork trotters and fry on both sides till slightly brown.

Add in light soya sauce, dark soya sauce and water and let simmer for a while. Add in whole garlics, chilli, mushroom and continue frying. Transfer the whole thing into a pressure cooker and pressure cook for 30 minutes.

Before serving, add in rice wine and port wine. Adjust flavouring to taste. Serve with warm white jasmine rice.