Pork belly with wood ear fungus

This recipe bursts with perfectly balanced flavours of oyster sauce, five-spice powder and rice wine. It goes well with steamed jasmine rice and a green vegetable stir-fry.

Pork belly and wood ear fungus Credit: Poh's Kitchen

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  55 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork belly
• 4–5 pieces red fermented bean curd
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 1½ tbsp shaoxin rice wine
• 2 tbsp onion juice (see note)
• 80 g wood ear fungus
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 litre peanut or vegetable oil
• 1 litre water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tbsp water, extra

Marinating time: 2 hours

Instructions

1. Slice rind away from pork belly. Slice piece of pork belly into 3 cm–wide strips. Then, cut strips into 1 ½ cm–wide pieces.
2. To make a marinade, combine fermented bean curd, five spice powder, shaoxin and onion juice in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly until there are no lumps. Add pork belly pieces to marinade, massage into meat and allow to sit for minimum of 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
3. Meanwhile, to prepare fungus, soak wood ear in water for about 30 minutes or until rehydrated. Drain water and tear each piece roughly into 2–3 pieces, discarding any woody parts. Set aside.
4. Mix egg and plain flour into the marinating pork.
5. In a large saucepan or wok, heat oil to medium–high heat. Deep-fry about 10 pieces of pork at a time for 3–5 minutes, or until pork pieces are a rich, rusty brown. (The pork at this stage is actually an excellent dish in itself – great with beer!)
6. Transfer pork to a clay pot or saucepan and add water, sugar and oyster sauce. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add fungus and simmer for another 10–15 minutes. Season with more oyster sauce and sugar, if necessary.
7. Mix cornflour with extra water and incorporate into sauce. Bring to boil until sauce thickens. Serve.

Note:

• To make onion juice, grate an onion and squeeze flesh until you have the required amount of liquid.

Poh's Kitchen, season 1 to season 3, premieres on Tuesday 20 November at 8.30pm. The series airs Tuesdays at 8.30pm on SBS Food (Channel 33). After they air, episodes will stream at SBS On Demand. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.