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Steamed Pork Belly with Sweet Red Bean Paste

Pork slices stuffed with red bean paste, steamed over sticky rice, then served sprinkled liberally with syrup. Known as “甜燒白” in Mandarin, this is a popular dish served at Sichuan country wedding and banquets. The invention of this recipe can be dated back to more than 200 years ago. What does it taste like? Pork belly melts in the month instantly and blend perfectly with the other ingredients!

About Sichuan food: Back into three kingdoms, Sichuan area was the kingdom of Shu (蜀国) and located in the southwest part of China. Sichuan people at that time liked to eat sweet food. Until Jin Dynasty, people add ginger, onions, chives and mustard into food and the food at that time is called pungent food. So at the very beginning, there is no “hot and spicy” in Chinese Sichuan cuisine.

Chef John Zhang

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Recipe

PRE TIME: 1 hr

COOKING TIME: 3 hr

TOTAL TIME: 4 hr

4 SERVING

Ingredients:

1.5 lb. Pork belly, skin-on
4 piece Star anise
2 stalk Green onion
4 piece Ginger slices
1 tbsp. Shaoxing wine
2 piece Lotus leaves
10 piece Goji berry
1 lb. Sweet rice
12 cup Water ( 8 cups for soaking rice; 4 cups for boiling red beans)
Marinade
0.25 tsp. Salt, a pinch
0.25 cup Dark soy sauce
1 tbsp. Oyster sauce
1 tbsp. Brown sugar
1.5 tbsp. Fermented sweet rice
For red bean paste
1 lb. Red bean
0.5 cup Sugar
0.5 tsp. Salt
2 tbsp. Lard
For sweet rice
0.5 cup Sugar
2 tbsp. Lard
Syrup
1 cup Water
0.5 tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Osmanthus syrup
1.5 tbsp. Slurry (a mixture of equal parts of water and starch)
1 tsp. Goji berry

Directions:

Step 1

Carefully torch pork skin to remove hair.

Step 2

In a large cooking pot, add pork belly, star anise, green onion, ginger slices, cooking wine and water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.

Step 2-1

Then, remove the pork belly from the cooking pot, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 3

Place pork belly skin side down on a cutting board, start from one end, make straight cuts at ¼ inch separation. Do not cut through (stop at the line between meat and skin) on the first cut. Cut through on the second cut to form a pocket.

Step 3-1

Repeat this step for the rest of the pork.

Step 4

Marinate the pork belly: in a large bowl, combine pork belly, marinade ingredients, and mix well. Set aside for 2 hours.

Step 5

Soak sweet rice in water for 2 hours. Discard the water.

Step 5-1

Place rice in a steamer basket and steam for 30 minutes.

Step 5-2

In a mixing bowl, combine steamed sweet rice, ½cup/110g sugar and 2tbsp/10g lard. Mix well. Set aside.

Step 6

Make the red bean paste: in a cooking pot, add red beans and water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for two hours.

Step 6-1

In a large bowl, put enough water, place a sieve on top, spoon red beans to the siever, use the spoon break beans, and discard remains(bean skin) in the sieve.

Step 6-2

Cover a strainer with a fine mesh cloth, and pour the bean mixture in the covered strainer.

Step 6-3

Squeeze the liquid out. This is the red bean paste.

Step 6-4

In a cooking pan over low heat, add red bean paste, ½ cup/110 g sugar, a pinch of salt, and 2 tbsp/10 g lard. Constantly stir until the bean pastes become shiny. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 7