Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice (Lou Fan)
This Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice, or Lu Rou Fan, is comforting, saucy, and full of deep flavor, with tender pork belly simmered in soy sauce, spices, and a hint of sweetness, served over hot rice.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 2634kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork belly (skin-on)
- ½ purple onion or yellow onion finely chopped
- 25 grams rock sugar granulated
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 garlic cloves peeled
- 2 star anise
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 inch ginger sliced in half
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ¼ cup shaoxing cooking wine** see sub in notes
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 3 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 3 cup water hot water preferred
- 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder
Serve
- 3-4 cups hot cooked white rice
- soft boiled eggs optional
- steamed greens (brocolli or bok choy) optional
Instructions
- Chop up pork belly in 1 inch small pieces.
- Prepare your aromatics. Chop your onion and peel your garlic. Set aside star anise, bay leaves, sliced ginger, and cinnamon (You can place them in a spice bag if you have one!).
- Heat pot on medium-high heat. Fry pork belly for 10 minutes.
- Next, add your rock sugar, onion, garlic, star anise, bay leaves, sliced ginger, cinnamon in the pork belly and fry for 5-10 minutes (on medium heat). Continue stirring.
- Add salt, shaoxing cooking wine**, dark soy sauce, low sodium soy sauce, boiling water and 5 spice powder. Make sure you scrape the bottom to get all the good bits.
- Turn heat to high for 10 minutes uncovered. Then, turn heat to low for 35-45 minutes covered.
- Skim oil and take out star anise, bay leaves, sliced ginger and cinnamon stick. Add in your boiled eggs now(optional).
- Serve braised pork belly over rice and greens like bok choy!
Notes
Expert Tips
-
- If your sauce is too watery, boil the pork belly for 5-10 minutes until your desired thickness. The collagen from the pork will help thicken the sauce.
- Choose the right cut: Use pork belly with a good balance of fat and meat—this ensures the sauce stays rich and the pork stays soft and succulent (also the fat makes a more delicious sauce).
-
- Render the fat: Gently sauté the pork before braising to release its fat. You can use a paper towel to soak up the fat. I also like to render the fat after braising the pork to ensure the dish is not too greasy.
-
- Cook on low and covered: Let it simmer gently in the delicious soy sauce base so the pork becomes melt-in-your-mouth tender and absorbs all the savory-sweet flavors. The longer you cook the dish, the softer the pork becomes and the sauce becomes thicker.
-
- Add in boiling water when cooking so your meat stays tender. Cold water can shock the ingredients and make your meat tough!
Nutrition
Calories: 2634kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 53g | Fat: 242g | Saturated Fat: 88g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 26g | Monounsaturated Fat: 113g | Cholesterol: 327mg | Sodium: 6536mg | Potassium: 1246mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 88IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 164mg | Iron: 7mg