Assam Braised Pork Belly Mum's Style

My mum has a knack of experimenting with seemingly incompatible ingredients and come up with some yummy dishes.  This is one of them. 



It does not look like much appearance wise, but trust me, it is one super appetizing dish.  It is also a real easy dish to make, and the ingredients are regular daily stuffs.  I always make extra coz it gets polished off real quick. 


The pork belly is braised until it is melt-in-the-mouth, and combined with the tangy savoury gravy, this goes great with lots of hot steam rice.  I prefer to use pork belly because it is much more tender and juicy, but you can also use spare ribs.  Sometimes, when I am feeling indulgent, I would use pork knuckle and double up the gravy to make enough for a large group.  It is always the first dish to finish!

Mum's original recipe included dried chillies to give it that kick - which I omit as my son will be eating, so feel free to add that in.  It really does amp up the flavour and gets you going for that 2nd or even third bowl of rice.


Assam Braised Pork Belly Mum's Style
Serves 4 - 6

• 500g pork belly, cut into several large chunks 
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp black/thick soy sauce
• 3 tsp assam paste
• 1.5 tbspn oyster sauce
• 2 tbspn minced tauchu paste
• 4 tbspn sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 slices of ginger, julienned
• 3-4 pieces of dried chillies, deseeded

1.  Marinade the pork with the light soy sauce and thick soy sauce for about 2 hours.

2.  Heat up some oil and fry the garlic, ginger and dried chillies until fragrant.  Add in the pork, and pan fry for 1 minute. 

3.  Add in the water and all the seasonings.  Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer for 40minutes or until pork is fork tender. 

4.  Adjust the taste by adding more assam/sugar/tauchu.  It should taste an appetizing combination of sour, sweet and salty.