Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice)
Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice, Lu Rou Fan (卤肉饭)! A taste of home … tender, rich and flavorful pork belly. Sooooo good with rice to soak up all that saucy goodness. And my kids ALWAYS come home for this. Enjoy!
Servings: 5 persons
Ingredients
Meat and marinade
- 800 g pork belly
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese wine
Braising sauce
- 7-8 cloves garlic minced
- 4 star anise
- 7 - 8 cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp five spice powder
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soya sauce
- 600 ml water
- 1/2 cup fried shallots
Optional add-on/ garnish
- 15 cooked quail eggs
- A handful of chopped spring onion
Instructions
- Wash the pork belly clean and drip dry. Once it is clean and dripped dry, slice into ~ 1 inch pieces. Add 3 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese wine to the meat and marinate for 30 minutes.
- To braise, I like to use a large base pan to render the meat. (Note: we do not need any oil to cook the meat as the pork belly has sufficient oil in itself)
- Place the meat into the pan and spread it out evenly. As the meat cooks, it will first start to lose water and then the oil will be released. The meat will start to brown and crisp as it renders. I like to let the meat render for ~10 minutes to release most of its oil. Once the pork belly is nicely rendered, reduce to low heat and remove the excess oil.
- When the excess oil is removed, add the minced garlic, star anise, cloves and bay leaf and saute till fragrant. Then add the brown sugar, 5 spice powder, light soy sauce and dark soya sauce and saute till well mixed. Once the meat is nicely coated with the spices and sauce, add in the water, fried shallots and quail eggs. Bring the heat to medium high and braise for ~40 minutes until saucy.
- Once the pork belly is beautifully braised and saucy, add a generous throw of chopped spring onions and turn off heat. Serve hot on freshly cooked rice. Enjoy.
Video
Notes
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#1 Pork belly slices
I have tasted many Lu Ruo Fan where the pork belly is cut into thin strips or cubed and ends up super meshed and unrecognizable after braising. I don’t like meshed up pork in my Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice as I like to see the meat and taste the chew/texture. Therefore I typically like to cut my pork belly into ~ 1 inch pieces with an ~1/4 inch thickness. This makes it easy to braise and soften the meat in the short cooking time whilst yielding a delicious and discernible pork belly dish when it is finally cooked. Cut the pork belly thicker, thinner, longer or shorter however you like … but just remember … the thicker or bigger the cut, the longer the braising time and vice versa.
#2 Add oil? Yes or no?
NO! 🙅🏻♀️🙅🏻♀️ There is absolutely NO NEED for cooking oil! Pork belly has a wealth of oil that is untapped and needs to be released. Simply render the meat for 10 minutes in a clean pan and there will be at least 1/3 to 1/2 bowl of oil liberated from the rendered pork. Some diehards might argue that leaving the lard intact is the whole point of Lu Rou Fan but this Sugar Crumble mama begs to differ! I would always recommend to remove the excess oil before braising the pork as it yields a much lighter, healthier and tastier Lu Rou Fan 卤肉饭.
#3 Spices
Our family likes our Lu Rou Fan packed with aromatic flavors and less sweet so I tend to go heavy on the spices and easy on the sugar. You can reduce the spices or increase the sugar if the preference is for milder flavors or more sweetness. I would suggest to reduce or add incrementally (especially on the sugar) till you get that perfect harmonious balance you want. Remember this Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice is the salt? 😄😄 So change it up, make it your taste of home and watch the kiddos rush back for dinner!
#4 Crispy fried shallots
IMHO these are essential to bring that subtle onion sweetness and crisp to the Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice. We get very good handcut fried shallots here in Singapore and therefore buying them over the counter and using ready ones is a real time saver when it comes to making this dish. If you cannot find good quality crispy fried shallots where you are, don’t skip this please. Fried shallots simply add such great flavor and texture to the Lu Rou Fan. So spend some time slicing your shallots, frying your own and adding them in fresh.
#5 Quail eggs
Taiwanese Lu Rou Fan is very commonly served with a soy sauce braised egg (卤蛋） as an add on. The creaminess of the egg and yolk together with the saucy pork on rice is super yummy! To save time, rather than boiling and peeling my own hard boiled eggs, I like to substitute with cooked quail eggs which I can get in the supermarkets here. These cooked quail beauties are simply a burst of creaminess and they look so dainty and pleasing to the eye one can’t help eating more (oops reminder to self … mind that cholesterol please 😬😬). If you can get quail eggs where you are, try them as an add-on over the usual hard boiled egg, you won’t regret it.
#6 Storage
If there is ever any leftovers (in this household, usually never!) keep it airtight and chilled in the fridge. It will last for another couple of days. To serve, simply microwave for 40 - 50 seconds or steam to heat up this Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice and enjoy.