Belly Pork Steamed with Preserved Vegetable aka Mui Choy Kau Yoke (梅菜扣肉)

This dish is hubby's favourite and he always orders it whenever we visit a Chinese restaurant...sigh. So, I thought if I were to make Mui Choy Kau Yoke at home, we could time when we want to eat this and also have the flexibility to try out other variety of food at the restaurants - a win-win situation! Mui Choy Kau Yoke is quite a simple dish to prepare. It just needs time to steam the pork for 2-2.5 hours. The key ingredients are pork belly and mui choy. How do I describe the taste? The pork belly is super tender and flavoursome - having absorbed all the flavour from the mui choy. The gravy is rich, tasty and appetising. Mui choy is preserved mustard green - you can get this at any Chinese grocery store.  Look for the sweet version. Just give the preserved mustard green a good wash before using. I normally use only the leaves for this dish and keep the stalks for making soup.

VIDEO LINK:https://youtu.be/l_bD5uPNsZU?si=Fr9nRQ6AMjysbwHQ

INGREDIENTS

• 600 gm belly pork (with skin)

• 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce - for brushing on the skin, after boiling.

• 300 gm preserved mustard green (mui choy) - you should be able to get this at any Asian grocery store. See picture below of a packet of mui choy.

• 1 tablespoon Canola oil

• 3 slices of ginger

• 3 tablespoons of minced garlic

• 3 tablespoons of Chinese cooking wine

• 2 tablespoons of dark soya sauce

• 2 tablespoons of rock sugar

• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon of chicken stock powder

• 1 tablespoon of cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon of water - thickening

Mui choy - get this from a Chinese grocery shop.

METHOD

1. Cut the pork belly into thick slices and par boil the pork belly for 5 minutes. Remove, drain and brush the skin with 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce.

2. Wash the mui choy and soak it in water for 10 minutes. Remove any hard stems. Squeeze out the water and cut mui choy into 1 inch pieces.

3. Add 1 tablespoon of Canola oil and fry the ginger till fragrant. Add mui choy and fry for a couple of minutes.

4. Add garlic, cooking wine, dark soya sauce, rock sugar, sesame oil and chicken stock powder and stir well to mix thoroughly. Let the mixture fry for a few minutes, adding a couple tablespoons of water, if needed, to prevent the mixture from drying out.

5. Put the pork, skin down in a deep dish.

6. Pour the prepared mui choy onto the pork, inserting some in between the pork slices.

7. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and put the dish in the steamer. Steam for 2-2.5 hours.8. When ready, pour the sauce into a saucepan. Invert the dish onto a serving plate.9. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning according to your taste. Add cornflour & water mixture to thicken the sauce slightly. Pour sauce over the pork. Enjoy!