Steamed Pork Belly with Taro (Xiang Yu Kou Rou)
A classic Cantonese dish where pork belly and taro are layered and steamed to tender perfection, rich in aroma and melts in your mouth.
Ingredients
11 items- Pork belly 500g
- Taro 400g
- Light soy sauce 2 tablespoons
- Dark soy sauce 1 tablespoon
- Cooking wine 1 tablespoon
- Rock sugar 30g
- Star anise 2
- Cinnamon stick 1 small piece
- Ginger 3 slices
- Spring onion 1
- Cooking oil as needed
Nutrition
Steps （8 steps）
Place pork belly in cold water with ginger and spring onion. Bring to a boil, skim off foam, then simmer for 20 minutes until a chopstick can pierce the skin. Drain.
Pat the skin dry, prick holes with a toothpick, brush with dark soy sauce, and let dry for 10 minutes.
Heat oil in a pan to medium-high (180°C). Fry pork belly, skin side down, until golden and blistered. Drain and slice into 0.5cm thick pieces.
Fry taro slices in the same oil until lightly golden on both sides. Set aside.
In a small bowl, mix light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, rock sugar, star anise, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Stir until sugar dissolves.
In a deep bowl, alternate pork belly slices and taro slices, skin side down, packed tightly. Pour the sauce over.
Place the bowl in a steamer. Steam over high heat then reduce to low for about 90 minutes until the meat is very tender and taro soft. Can be pierced with chopsticks.
Remove the bowl, drain the sauce into a pan. Invert the dish onto a plate. Thicken the sauce with water starch if desired, pour over the meat, garnish with chopped spring onion.
Tips
Prickling the skin and frying makes the skin crispy; pre-frying taro keeps its shape; sufficient steaming time ensures melt-in-the-mouth texture; thickening the sauce gives a glossy finish.
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