bits of benjamin
02 · The kitchen

Braised Pork Rice (滷肉飯)

Cuisine
Taiwanese
Time
120 min

Braised pork rice topped with a halved soy-braised egg and fried shallots

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs skin-on pork belly
  • 10 small Asian shallots (or 3–4 large American ones, about 150 g)
  • 8 cloves garlic
  • 4 slices ginger (about 1 tbsp minced)
  • 10 dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 3 cups hot water
  • 3 tbsp neutral oil (canola or vegetable)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 star anise
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp five spice
  • ½ tsp white pepper
  • 2 tbsp rock sugar
  • ¼ cup Shaoxing wine
  • ¼ cup light soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 6–8 eggs
  • Spice bag (or cheesecloth and twine)

Steps

Pre-preparations

  1. Hard-boil the 6–8 eggs. Lower them into boiling water for 10 minutes, move them to an ice bath, then peel.

Soak mushrooms (30 minutes)

  1. Soak the 10 shiitake mushrooms in the 3 cups of hot water for 30 minutes.

Mise en place

  1. Squeeze the water out of the 10 mushrooms and dice them into a bowl. Keep the soaking water for the sauce.
  2. Mince the 8 cloves of garlic and 4 slices of ginger into a second bowl.
  3. Slice the shallots into a third bowl.
  4. Put the 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise and 2 bay leaves in a spice bag.
  5. Combine 1 tsp five spice, ½ tsp white pepper and 2 tbsp rock sugar in a fourth bowl.
  6. Combine ¼ cup Shaoxing wine, ¼ cup light soy sauce, 3 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce and the mushroom water in a fifth bowl.
  7. Slice the pork belly into a sixth bowl.

Sauté shallots

  1. Heat the 3 tbsp of oil in the pot on medium-low. Sauté the shallots, stirring often, until golden. Don’t let them burn.
  2. Pull the shallots out and set them aside, leaving the oil in the pot.

Cook pork

  1. Sauté the pork belly in the shallot oil until the fat is sizzling and the water has cooked off.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant.

Braise (total 75 minutes)

  1. Add the spice bag, mushrooms, shallots, and the dry and wet sauce ingredients to the pot.
  2. Simmer on low for 45 minutes.
  3. Add the boiled eggs and simmer for another 30 minutes.
  4. Remove the spice bag.

Notes

The 12/29/25 batch came out bitter. The shallots burned a bit while frying, or some of the aromatics stayed in too long.