Gua Bao with Braised Pork Belly
De Arbol (Capsicum Annuum) means tree like in Spanish. The plant has thick, upright, woody stems and the chile itself is narrow, curved and bright red in color. Believed to be closely related to the pequin, the De Arbol is thin fleshed, with tannic, smoky, grassy flavor and searing heat. This chile has a heat range of 7.5 on the heat scale of 1-10. De Arbol Chiles are comparable to a Cayenne Pepper. Scoville heat units 15,000 to 30,000.
Makes 25-28 pieces
Ingredients
800 g/28 oz pork belly
25-30 pcs lotus leaf buns (recipe here)
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
3 – 3 1/2 cups water
1 large cinnamon stick
3 star anise
8-10 cloves garlic
2 inch ginger (size of thumb), crushed
2 pcs dried chile (optional)
oil for frying
Seasoning
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Shao Xing wine
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce (or to preference)
Topping
1/2 cup crushed peanuts
1 can pickle vegetable, shredded (some use salted vegetables)
2 stalk scallion, cut to 2 inches length and julienne
shredded chile (optional)
shredded carrot (optional)
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
lettuce
Cooking Instruction
1. Blanch the pork in hot water for about 5 minutes.
2. Brush some dark soy sauce on the skin. Heat a little oil to fry the slab of pork, skin side down (you could skip step 2 if you are lazy).
I experimented with braising the whole meat then slicing.
Not a good idea because the meat was too soft and fell apart when cut.
3. Slice pork 1 cm thick. Put pork, seasoning, water, star anise, cinnamon, dried chile, garlic and ginger into a slow cooker. Water should just cover the pork. Cook in “Slow” for 5 hours or until pork is tender. Alternatively, throw everything in a pot and braise covered in a very slow heat until tender.
4. Meanwhile, prepare topping ingredients.
5. When pork is tender, pour braising liquid into a wok/pan and reduce until about 1 1/2 cup left. Slowly add in pork belly (at this stage, pork belly would disintegrate if handle roughly). Mix cornstarch with 2 tsp water and add to braising liquid to thicken. Remove from fire.
6. To serve, place a piece lettuce in between the bun, then pork. Add a dab of Hoisin sauce, pickle and vegetables on top of pork belly. Sprinkle with some crushed peanuts and the bun is ready. Alternatively, you could serve all items separately.