December 26, 2006
Sinfully Delicious Stewed Pork Belly
Feast your eyes on the picture: It is tender, succulent and melts in your mouth… … Now, close your eyes and spend a moment to visualize yourself chowing down on a steaming hot Stewed Pork Belly Bun. The juice oozes out of the stewed pork as you chew s-l-o-w-l-y, biting into the meat and the fats, tasting every bit of it.
Stewed Pork Belly Bun is also known in dialect as “Kong Ba Bao”. It is basically stewed pork belly in dark soy sauce wrapped in plain “bao skin” (see picture below). In Mandarin, “bao skin” is called “man tou”.
I kind of mutated PabloPabla’s recipe to make my “Kong Ba Bao”. Here is the mutated (but still excellent!) recipe:
Ingredients (serves 4):
- 1.3 lb (about 600g) pork belly
- 4 tbsp brown or white sugar
- 1 whole bulb garlic, separate into individual cloves
- warm water
- 2 sticks cinnamon, 3 star anise, 3 cloves and 2 cardamon seeds
Seasoning
- 3 to 4 tablespoons dark soya sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
Cooking Method:
(Steps 1 & 2: Lock, stock and barrel from PabloPabla)
1. Add sugar into a wok / saucepan which has been heated up. Let the sugar caramelise (turn liquid and brown).
2. Once sugar fully caramelised, add the whole pork belly and let it “sear” for 1 minute on each side. Add water to cover the pork belly by 1 to 2 cm. Add the rest of the ingredients and seasoning. Once water begins to boil, reduce to medium low heat.
This is the difference I made:
3. Cover lid and let it simmer for two hours.
4. For the pork belly to look brown all over, cut the pork belly into inch-thick slices, put them back to the gravy to simmer for another 10 minutes. Then lay them out on an oven tray with some gravy and place them into an oven pre-heated to 450 degree F, for 10 minutes.
5. After 10 minutes, set the oven to broil and let the pork belly crisp up a bit for another 5-10 minutes. See how the pork belly has browned in the picture below.
6. While the pork belly is broiling in the oven, steam the “bao skin” (man tou).
7. To serve, shred the pork into bite sized pieces. You may choose to remove some of the fats at this stage. Then insert the pork and skin into the “bao skin”.
Note: There was too much gravy in this recipe for “Kong Ba Bao”, so what I would do next time is to first cut the pork belly into inch thick slices, then sear the pieces on the caramelised sugar. To get a thicker gravy, I would use less water because the pork skin has a gelatinous effect and would make the gravy sticky.
How is this for a sinfully delicious stewed pork belly in dark soy sauce wrapped in “bao skin” to become “Kong Ba Bao”! End the meal with a cup of hot Chinese tea heh!
Bite This!
More recipes:
Braised Dark Soy Sauce Pork Belly
I Reached For A Krispy Kreme Doughnut To Get My Sugar High
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December 27th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Not a good idea to read your blog before lunch. Now I’m really hungry.
December 27th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
Deliciously looking mutation! LOL!
Actually, my (or rather, my family’s) “kong ba” recipe is slightly different in that we first blanch the meat to cook the outer side, cut into inch-thick slices, fry them a while before steaming the meat in gravy. Once I have got my hands to cooking it and blogging about it, I will let you know, ya?
December 27th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Do you still have leftovers for me ? :P
December 27th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
Hey DF, Oops… then after lunch you’ll be really sleepy :p
*drumming fingers* … Pablopabla, I am still waiting for your “kong ba” recipe.
Sorry Tiger! I had reserved some for you, but you were in Vegas!!
December 27th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
yummy yummy! this looks soo good. i want to make the “bao” skins.
December 27th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
Oopsie. The “bao skin” were frozen ones. I only had to steam them for about 15 minutes.
December 31st, 2006 at 8:29 am
I love eating those meat. But nowadays, I have to eat without the fats. Haha.. My cholesterol level is quite high. LOL.
I have never prepared this myself, want to eat, either go buy them from shops, ask mum to make them, or ask aunty to make them. ;-p
December 31st, 2006 at 8:39 am
When I was working in SG, I would “twang” and go to the food court to buy the Kong Guan Kong Ba Bao with a cup of tea. Here, bo pian… no kopi tiam.
December 31st, 2006 at 8:45 am
Nowdays they have stalls that sell only Kong Bak Bao. Not the Kong Guan type, but Gourmet Kong Bak Bao. haha.
There’s once at the Tangs Basement. Saw another one at IMM Shopping Mall too.
December 31st, 2006 at 1:03 pm
[…] This is another sinfully delicious food that I really shouldn’t be eating too much. […]
January 1st, 2007 at 9:25 am
i just ate this tonight! but i’ve never made it myself… i will definitely try your recipe!
March 5th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
[…] What is Kong Bak? I suppose you can generally call it Pork Belly Slices in Dark Sauce. What sets it apart is that it is wedged between a bun called Ho Hup Pau (Pau meaning Bun) and eaten just like a kebab. Simcooks has been pestering (reminding, ahem!) me for this recipe. She has a good looking pork belly recipe but my family method of cooking is different. There are actually 3 steps to cooking this dish. […]
March 29th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
[…] Remember my earlier Sinfully Delicious Stewed Pork Belly post? Braised Dark Soy Sauce Pork Belly is a variation of that recipe with a cooking technique that yields a different texture and taste. […]
May 1st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
[…] I guess I have to eat healthy for the next few weeks. There goes my stewed pork belly, fried chicken wings , and sweet delights. […]
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:06 am
We have a dish like this that is very popular in hawaii, & it is called Kau yuk. Is this the same? Now I live in the mainland & when I go to china town to eat, I order Kau yuk they don’t know what I’m talking about. Is this a hong kong style dish
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Kau Yuk sounds like a Cantonese name. I know the Chinese name for this is 扣肉包 (kou rou bao), so the translation to Cantonese sounds about right. I am not sure if this is a Hong Kong Style dish.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Nice recipe but i was wondering is any oil used in this recipe.
In step you said: Add sugar into a wok / saucepan which has been heated up. Let the sugar caramelise (turn liquid and brown).
Do you use heat oil first then add sugar then proceed with step 2 - sorry - sounds a like a duh! question but i was wondering. Thanks
July 10th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Allo… no oil added since the pork belly itself is full of fats and will ooze out oil when cooked :)
July 10th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Hi Isaac!
Just heat up your wok / saucepan without any oil. Once it’s heated up, just add your sugar into it. :)
July 11th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Thank for the reply!
Hope to try the recipe soon. Will get back to you guys thereafter! Cheers