Braised Pork with Pickled Cabbage
Braised pork with pickled cabbage is a famous northern dish, simple and easy to make. Rich in protein. Beginners generally need 3 hours to finish.
Ingredients and Tools
- Pork belly or pork ribs
- Northeast pickled cabbage
- Scallion
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Salt
- Light soy sauce
- Five-spice powder
- Cooking wine
- Star anise
Measurements
- Pork ribs or pork belly (total) 1500 g
- Northeast pickled cabbage 1000 g
- Scallion 1 stalk
- Ginger 100 g
- Garlic 4 cloves
- Salt 10 g
- Light soy sauce 15 g
- Five-spice powder 10 g
- Cooking wine 20 ml
- Star anise 2 pieces
Steps
- Cut scallion into segments; cut 50 g ginger into segments and 50 g into mince; mince garlic and set aside.
- Shred all the pickled cabbage, rinse with water 2 ~ 3 times and set aside. -Rinse times depend on personal taste: if you like sourness, rinse 2 times. If you are afraid of sourness, rinse 3 ~ 4 times. Do not skip rinsing, otherwise it will be too sour.
- Put ribs and pork belly into the pot, pour in cold water to cover. Add all scallion segments, 50 g ginger segments, and 20 ml cooking wine. Bring to a boil over high heat, then wait 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove ribs and pork belly, rinse off the scum with cold water, and set aside.
- Cut the cooked pork belly into slices or chunks and set aside.
- Wash the pot clean and dry it (otherwise the oil will splatter when added).
- Add oil to the pot, heat over medium, add minced ginger and garlic to release fragrance, add pork belly and ribs. Fry until golden, pour in 10 g five-spice powder and 15 g light soy sauce, and stir with a spatula for 1 ~ 2 minutes.
- Add the rinsed pickled cabbage shreds to the pot and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
- Pour in purified water just to cover the ingredients, add 2 pieces star anise, turn to high heat until the water boils. Turn to medium heat, cover, and simmer.
- Wait 1.5 ~ 2 hours until the pork belly is soft and tender (you can easily pierce it with chopsticks).
- Remove the lid, turn to high heat to reduce the liquid, stir the ingredients until the remaining water only covers the bottom of the pot, turn to low heat, and prepare to season.
- Seasoning: add 10 g edible salt and mix evenly.
- Turn off the heat and plate.
Notes
- When reducing the liquid over high heat, be careful not to burn the pot; you can stir to check the water level.
- Seasoning tip: when adding salt at the end, add a little at a time, stir and taste until it reaches an acceptable flavor.
- This dish has the special flavor of pickled cabbage. If you follow this guide and find issues or improvements, please submit an Issue or Pull request.