It’s a traditional Hakka braised pork belly with a lot of fat. You got to get at least 3 layers: skin, fat and meat that what my grandma told my mom. As the years goes by all of us kind of not keen on too fatty pork belly, so mom got the pork with a bit less fat not adding too much dark caramel sauce.. Yet, it still has the same flavour from the marinade as it has to be marinade for 2-4 hours.

Today it is my second time cooking char chee yoke handed down from grandma to my mom. To make this you needed to deep fry the pork belly pieces and then braised with garlic and black fungus until pork belly and black fungus have softened. Can be serve with rice and side vegetables. I am adding pan mee and leftover rocket & spinach salad today instead of my favourite shin ram yun for a change. It’s light in colour as I run out of dark caramel sauce.

The char chee yoke is really soft, tasty like grandma’s cooking as well as leaner meat like my mom. To me this char chee yoke is really comfort meal and satisfying delicious with pan mee soup. Let’s cook!!!

Ingredients

Char chee yoke (Braised pork belly)

1 kilo of pork belly, wash, drain and cut into 3 or 4 long strips
3/4 packet of black fungus, soak overnight
1/2 bulb of garlic with skins, break them into individual garlic piece
4 eggs
3 Tbs of 5 spice powder
2 star anise
1/2 Tsp oyster sauce
1 Tsp light soy sauce
5 Tbs plain flour
5 Tbs brandy or whiskey
3/4 Tbs salt
1 Tsp ajinomoto (OPT)
oil for deep frying
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 Tbs Shao Xing Chinese cooking wine
water enough to cover pork

Pan mee soup rocket & spinach salad

1 packet pan mee instant soup
leftover rocket & spinach salad
water

Method

Char chee yoke (Braised pork belly) – One day in advance or a few hours earlier

Place the long strip pork belly in a big bowl, add 5 spice, plain flour, salt, ajinomoto, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, brandy and crack the eggs in. Mix well till combined. Set in fridge for 4 hours to develop the flavour. Bring out to room temperature place on benchtop.

Heat oil on medium high heat. Deep fry a few pieces at a time about 4 minutes until golden brown and removed to a paper towel plate. Once deep frying all the pork, heat a big pot with oil. Then add 1 Tbs minced garlic fry till fragrant about 1 minutes. Add the fried pork to the pot.

Smash the individual garlic and add into pot. Now add black fungus in and strain the fungus water into the pot. Next add enough water and star anise to braise the pork on low heat until soft about 40-50 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure the pork mixture does not dry up and burn. Check seasoning. Once pork belly is done, switch off hob. Move away from hot hob and let pork belly and black fungus absorb the flavoured sauce.

Pan mee soup rocket & spinach salad

Meantime, put kettle on. Open the pan mee and condiments packet. Empty into a bowl and place a plate at the bottom for easy to lift out of hot microwave. When water is boiled, pour enough water into prepared bowl.

Microwave for 5 minutes. Then open the microwave door, add the rocket & spinach salad, stirs to mix well. Continue to cook in microwave for a further 2-3 minutes until pan mee is softened. Bring out from microwave carefully.

Now spoon some char chee yoke, and black fungus with the flavoured sauce onto pan mee bowl. Stir and organise the black fungus in a circle around the edge of pan mee rocket & spinach and char chee yoke. Enjoy with a glass of Pino Grigg!!!

Note: Do not add pepper. If you don’t want to be too liquid add a little less water. If you like it darker colour add 2 Tbs of dark caramel sauce.

https://helenscchin.com/2022/03/24/pan-mee-char-chee-yoke-rocket-and-spinach-soup/

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