Main or Snack: Pork
My family first encountered this heavenly dish, kong bak pau, the first time we ate at +Westlake Eating House. The restaurant is found in an HDB complex (stands for Housing Development Board, like government housing) with green plastic chairs (and chopsticks!) and floral plastic covered tables. So nondescript but always crowded. Even if you wait for a long-ish time, the aunties & uncles always assure you that they haven't forgotten you.
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| Westlake Eating House's kong bak pau served with lettuce leaves. |
Their Hokkien version uses pork belly slices. When we lived in Singapore, I used twee bak (pork shoulder with skin on). Less fatty and hopefully, more healthy. Here in the US, I use either pork shoulder or full ham boneless (the back part), also lean but with a hint of that all important fat. You need the fat, even minimal, for flavour and to keep the meat moist during the long cooking time. The Hokkien braised pork recipe has ginger, catsup, cloves, star anise and five spice powder. My family is not too keen on said spices. Am too lazy too to blanch first the pork then brown it before starting with the braising process. Instead, the tweaked recipe I am sharing is from +Nora V. Daza's book, "Let's Cook With Nora," pork asado recipe. In addition, am using a slow cooker. You can use pressure cooker or even a regular saucepan. You just have to be around to constantly check that the meat is really getting tender and that there is still enough braising liquid.
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| I used full ham boneless cut with a little fat & skin. |
I decided to prepare this dish because the coriander my boys planted latter part of March is blooming. Instead of lettuce leaves, we place instead cucumber sticks and coriander leaves. We find it more refreshing.
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| Coriander or cilantro leaves ready for picking. |
