Ingredients
1/2 kg Pork Belly (ask bucher cut it into long strip.)
5 cloves garlic
1 bunch or 1 pack of preserved vegetable.
梅菜 (buy the wet ones coated with salt )
2 tbsp Dark sticky soya sauce
1 stick Cinnamon about our thumb length.
1 Star Aniseed
Method
* Garlic: wash and smack, do not remove the jacket.
* Preserved vegetable: cut away the hard stem, pluck leaves individually roughly wash under tap water to get rid of the salt coated on it. Place it inside a pot and soak with plenty of water for 15 mins or more. Wash leaves once again and soak again with clean tap water for another 15 mins. Gently rub the stem one by one to get rid of fine tiny sand on it. Rinse again before you cut it into small tinny pieces.
Put all cut preserved vegetable inside a pot fill with water bring to boil. Remove from heat let it sit inside till cold. Remove bit by bit by hand from top to the bottom, if there is sand on it, it will settle to the bottom.
Taste preserved vegetable, if it is not salty, is really to cook. If it is salty, boil it with hot water again.
Cooking
1. Place preserved vegetable at the bottom of the pot follow by long strips of pork belly, cinnamon stick n star aniseed. Fill with tap water up to pork belly level, water level do not exceed pork belly. Add in 2 tbsp sticky dark soya sauce which use for braised meat.
2. Bring to boil with high heat, reduce to medium heat cook for 30 mins. OFF the heat let it simmer inside for an hour, do not removed the lid.
3. An hour later, open the lid to check water level, it should still hv 1/2 a pot of gravy in it. Bring the pot of braised pork preserved vegetable to boil with high heat again and reduce to medium heat or low heat cook for another 30 mins, remove from heat let it simmer for 30 mins. By then, the pork belly should be soft n tender. You may check it by using a folk to poke at the skin, if the folk able to go through the skin, your pot of braised pork preserved vegetable is ready to serve. Cut pork belly into your desire size and serve.
* For my cooking, I prefer to enjoy it with the natural taste so I hardly add seasoning in it. You may add in oyster sauce in it or other seasoning if you like, but remember to taste it before you add any seasoning in it to prevent too salty.