Braised Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps

November 18, 2013

Author: KatieChin

recently met my friend Susie at Lukshon Restaurant in Culver City and we had the most delicious, melt-in-your-mouth braised pork belly lettuce wraps with a sweet, sour and salty hot sauce. The luxurious and rich pork belly was brilliantly paired with bright sauce bursting with Southeast Asian Flavors. I felt inspired to try my own version of it. If you’ve never made braised pork belly before, don’t worry. It’s not hard at all but it does take a some time so I wouldn’t plan to make this on a busy weeknight. Better saved for a weekend when you can truly savor the results of this amazing dish. I adapted Ching He Huang’s (Cooking Channel) method to braise the pork belly and created my own dipping sauce made with fish sauce, fresh ginger, sesame oil, brown sugar and lime juice. I also swapped out the crispy pig ears garnish (not really prepared to take on frying pig ears this week!) with crispy fried shallots. You can find premium sesame oil in the gourmet section of Cost Plus World Market.

Ingredients

CRISPY FRIED SHALLOTS:

2 shallots, sliced thinly

flour

vegetable or corn oil

PORK BELLY:

1 1/2 pounds fresh pork belly, with skin

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1/2 cup vegetable stock

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry

1 tablespoon canola oil

1-inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns

2 star anise

butter lettuce leaves

shredded red cabbage and napa cabbage

thinly sliced scallions for garnish

Dipping Sauce:

2 teaspoons fresh minced ginger

2 teaspoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon Asian chili-garlic sauce, such as sambal oelek

1/4 cup olive oil or canola oil

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

Instructions

Make the crispy fried shallots: Toss the shallots (make sure they are still moist) in flour. Heat a deep skillet with oil to 160 degrees. Fry the shallots for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel lined cookie sheet. Set aside.
For the pork belly: Bring a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot of water to a boil. Add the pork belly and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the pot, rinse under cold water and then dry with some paper towels. Slice the pork into 3 even pieces and set aside.
Heat a wok over high heat and add the oil. When the oil begins to smoke, add the pork pieces and stir-fry for about 1 minute per side to brown. When the pork is browned, add the dark soy and stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Transfer the pork to a plate that will fit inside a large bamboo steamer with at least a 1-inch margin between the plate and the steamer.
For the sauce: In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir to combine the vegetable stock, light soy sauce, brown sugar and rice wine; set aside. Reheat the wok and add the peanut oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and star anise and then stir-fry for a few seconds. Add in the sauce and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour the sauce over the pork.
Place the plate of pork into a steamer over a wok or pot filled halfway with water and bring to a boil. Steam the pork over medium heat until the pork is tender, 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. Check the pot occasionally to be sure that the water hasn’t completely evaporated. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce. Whisk all of the dipping sauce ingredients together in a bowl.
Slice the pork belly into 1″ x 2″ slices. Place some of the shredded cabbages in a butter lettuce leaves. Place pork belly pieces on top of the cabbage. Garnish with scallions and reserved crispy fried shallots. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.