Braised Pork Belly with Gula Melaka

This is what we had yesterday... another experiment: Braised Pork Belly with Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar).
Found the recipe here.

I didn't know how it was going to taste. But in the end, it was really nice. My little girl really liked it and even had 2 helpings of rice for lunch. She kept asking for more of the pork belly. This is the little girl that would usually chew meat and spit it out, and throw half her rice away. Yesterday, she ate everything up.

I didn't cook it as dry as the original recipe coz' I know my family loves gravy. The sweet and slightly sour taste of the gravy goes very nicely with rice. Okay, so here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• RM12 worth of pork belly (that's a little under 1kg)
• 1 tbsp of preserved bean paste (tau cheong)
• 8-10 shallots, sliced (I like lots of shallots, you can reduce this if you want)
• 2 chilli padi/bird eye chillies, cut (I didn't put this in because of the kids but DH says next time I mustn't omit)
• Gula melaka/palm sugar - Original recipe said to put in 25g. Sorry, I don't know how to measure it. So I just boiled like 3 blocks which I had with a little bit of water to melt it. I think I added about 6 spoonfuls (tbsp) when I was cooking. If you're not sure, just put less first. Before you're done cooking, just have a taste. If you don't think it is sweet enough (need to balance with the sour assam), just add some more.
• 2 tsp light soya sauce
• 1 tsp dark soya sauce
• 3 pieces tamarind skin
• 1 cup water

How To Cook

• Marinate pork belly with salt. I did mine overnight but 1 hour is good too.
• With some cooking oil, fry the shallots and bean paste.
• When it is fragrant, add in pork belly and fry for a bit.
• Add in water, gula melaka, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and tamarind skin.
• Turn heat down to low and let simmer. Cover the wok.
• Do a taste test and adjust accordingly.

Enjoy!