Braised pork with preserved mustard greens

Judy Leung’s selected mei cai kou rou combines braised and steamed pork belly with dried preserved mustard greens. She describes it as a Chinese comfort dish suited to New Year dinners and other occasions.

The preserved greens soak and receive repeated washes before draining. A whole piece of skin-on pork belly simmers in cold-start water with ginger slices and star anise, then moves to the wok for browning.

A first tablespoon from the same oil quantity browns the pork; a teaspoon of dark soy and a little water coat it before slicing. The remaining oil cooks selected rock sugar, separate minced ginger and the preserved greens.

The remaining dark soy joins light soy, Shaoxing wine and prepared chicken stock around the greens. This mixture covers neatly arranged pork slices in a bowl, which then steams.

Liquid released in the bowl becomes the own finishing sauce, thickened with a separate cornstarch-and-water slurry. The bowl is inverted onto a plate so the pork sits above the greens, then the sauce is poured over it and separate white rice can accompany it.