滷肉: Taiwanese stewed pork over rice

Hello hello there! Today I will be blogging about my first cooking venture, and honestly I feel really excited to share the recipe and results with you.


Since C and I were craving some comfort food on this cold day, we thought it'd be fun to try and make some "lo ba", aka Taiwanese stewed pork over rice.
Lo ba is like the Taiwanese mac-n-cheese; it is  simple, versatile, and traditional! It is comprised of minced pork simmered in a delicious and savoury stew for at least 2.5 hours and is usually served on a steaming bed of rice or soft chewy noodles. The first time I ever tried lo ba was at a bubble tea shop, and ever since then, I have simply just loved this hearty and comforting dish.


SO! Let's start, shall we?


Ingredients + apparatus

650g ground pork (preferably with lots of fat) 
1/3 cup chopped shallot
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chinese rice wine
6 cups water
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 star anise (for first-time users like me:star anise?)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (or more to suit your taste)
a deep pan *TIP: C and I used a pot because it has less surface area, decreasing the chances of the pork becoming burnt/tough due to prolonged simmering*


Method 

1. Warm your pan/pot, then add the cooking oil, shallots, and garlic. Saute for about 5 minutes, or until the shallots and garlic become fragrant. Add the star anise and cinnamon at this point and stir until mixed *Since I am not used to cooking terminology, I took it in the most literal term, and was constantly putting my nose close to the pot*

2. Add the ground pork and stir quickly, constantly jabbing your stirring spoon into the sticky pork to break it apart. Try to get as much as the liquid around the pork.

3. When your pork looks like this, add the soya sauce, sugar, rice wine, and stir. Again, try to get as much liquid around the pork.

4. Add your six cups of water then cover the lid, set the heat to low, and let it simmer for 2.5-3 hours.

 *if you would like, start boiling a couple of eggs after you set the pork to simmer. after the eggs are done, peel the shells and add them to your stew. you will be rewarded with the most flavourful stewed eggs ever*

end result...

Not the most appealing picture...I promise to work on my photography skills haha, but don't let it deceive you; this was truly delicious and aromatic! The whole house smelt like the rich star anise and it was absolutely torturous to wait the full 2.5 hour  minimum.


Overall, this dish was hands-down a SUCCESS *click it!* 
The meat was extremely tender and just melted in your mouth when eaten. All of the stew seeped deep into each particle-niche possible in the pork, creating tiny bits of savoury heaven. To top the dish off, we added some chopped spring onion which served to add some crunch texture, as well as enhance the taste of the pork. The stew was slightly salty on its own, but when paired with steamy rice, it turned out just fine. But, if you are very conscious about your salt-intake, you can try to revise this by adding a low-sodium soya sauce or adding less soya sauce. Mind you, this may compromise the flavour intensity. As for the egg, since it had been exposed to prolonged heat from the boiling and simmering, there was a slight sulphur ring around the yolk, but it did not significantly affect the taste. In fact, even if the sulphur ring had been large, I doubt C and I would've tasted it anyway due to the immense flavour of the stew. If you would like, you can also add some chopped soya beans and mushrooms at the same time when you would add the eggs. These will add a wider variety of textures to your dish, raising it up a notch.

we boiled some "yu choi" in slightly salted water and drizzled some oyster sauce over it, but you can add any vegetable side you want, if any at all

Alas, my first cooking post has come to an end. The Taiwanese stewed pork was a terrific success and C and I will definitely be making this simple dish again. The prep work took at maximum only 10 minutes, and the rest of the time was allocated to letting the stew simmer, a plus since it gives you plenty of time to do other things. The great part of this dish is that it's extremely versatile, meaning you can eat it with either hot rice, noodles, or even bread! I'm sure it would delicious in all three situations :). I hope you enjoyed this post, and may you have as much fun and be as successful in making this dish!

Happy eating!

xoxo,

-A