Since young, i have always love this Mei Cai Kou Rou to bits.

In fact, this gotta be one of the rare few dishes where the vegetable outshines the pork, for me that is .

*smile*

I can eat bowls and bowls of rice with just the gravy and vegetables. The pork is not that significant to me but to many, it is and i can imagine why.

Aaaahhh… ~ Melt in the mouth 3 layer meat (skin, fat and meat).

It’s absolutely incredible i tell ya!

OH! OH!

Not forgetting… the soft whitish bones at the bottom of the meat in some! I gotta be the only one in the family who eat the soft crunchy bones. Yeah, a little disgusting but ermm.. i quite dig it. Haha!

So yes, Mei Cai Kou Rou is a very popular Chinese dish from the Hakka clan amongst the Chinese.

Mei cai means preserved dried vegetable which comes in 2 versions – salty and sweet. It is best to mix both versions to cook this steamed pork dish.

With the laborious effort put into preparing this dish, it is a no wonder why this dish is priced as such (read : expensive) in the restaurants.

But the thing, it is really not that difficult to prepare. A bit of love is all you need to whip up this gorgeous dish and i kid you not! ;)

Mei Cai Kou Rou 梅菜扣肉

200g salty mei Cai (Preserved Mustard Greens)
100g sweet mei Cai (Preserved Mustard Greens)
600g pork belly 三层肉
1 bulb garlic, peeled and lightly squashed
1 thin piece of ginger
2-3 tbsp dark soya sauce
3-4 tsp sugar
2 dash of sesame oil
2 dash of pepper
2 dash of rice wine
500ml stock or water

to marinate the pork

1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp rice wine
1 tsp light soya sauce

method

1. soak all mustard greens for at least 3 hours, rinsing and changing the water every 1 hour to get rid of the sand and saltiness.
2. marinate the pork for at least 1 hour.
3. drain and chop the greens into 2-3cm long strips.

4. blanch the pork in a pot of boiling water for just a minute to get rid of the porky smell and drain.
5. with the skin side facing downwards, slice the pork into 1-2cm thick.
6. heat oil in the preheated wok or large heavy skillet. add garlic and ginger and stir fry till fragrant. stir in pork slices. brown both sides of the pork before adding all the seasoning in and half portion of the stock or water. simmer for at least a minute.
7. Mix in all the chopped mustard greens or mei cai and stir fry well before adding the rest of the stock or water. simmer for at least 5-10 minutes before tasting. feel free to add additional seasoning accordingly. switch off fire.
8. arrange the pork pieces neatly into a large bowl upside down before you add in the rest.

9. lastly, steam it over medium fire for 1 hour to 1.5 hours. remove and let it cool down for at least 15 minutes before you turn the bowl in a upside down position in another larger plate. do be extremely careful as the gravy is very hot.
10. serve HOT with at least 2 bowls of piping hot rice per person *wink*

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ps : i like to buy the fattiest slab of pork belly when i cook this dish. Heee! But unfortunately, this slab of pork belly i bought this time isn’t fat enough. Fat ones were sold out by the time i went at 10am!

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Submitting this to Shaz — Test with Skewers for Muhibbah Monday :)