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1
Peel off the skin from the vegetables and roughly chop.
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2
Peel the skin from the garlic cloves.
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3
Chop each clove in half and remove the germ (the small green bud in the middle of the clove).
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4
Try to use pork belly meat that is relatively low in fat.
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5
Slice the pork belly cut in half.
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6
Roll up each half of the pork belly with kitchen twine.
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7
Make sure you wind the twine around tightly.
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8
Don't tie the ends of the twine.
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9
Instead, secure by tucking between the tightly wound twine and meat.
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10
It'll be easier to unwind later on this way.
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11
You're done rolling up your pork belly cuts.
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12
Combine the seasoning ingredients in a pot, and simmer.
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13
Add the meat and vegetables to the pot.
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14
The heat should be set at low-medium, so that the pork belly rolls gently dance as they float in the pot.
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15
Set the heat to low if you're using a Le Creuset brand pot.
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16
After you've simmered the meat for 1.5 hours, you're done.
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17
Once it's done simmering, remove quickly from the pot and let cool.
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18
Once cool, carefully remove the twine.
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19
The meat is difficult to slice up nicely while it's still hot.
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20
Let it cool down first before slicing.
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21
Don't throw away the simmering sauce.
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22
If you let the sauce rest, the fat from the pork belly will start to separate and harden.
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23
Remove the solidified fat and vegetables.
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24
If you leave the sauce cool in the refrigerator, the fat will solidify much quicker.
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25
Here is the sauce with the fat and vegetables removed.
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26
This sauce is quite tasty, so try saving it for later use.
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27
Bottle the sauce or keep it in a jar to store in the fridge.
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28
This sauce goes well with a variety of dishes, like gyoza dumplings, mapo tofu, ginger pork, or fried chicken.
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29
The char siu is amazing when topped on ramen noodles.
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30
Here, I've also added a boiled egg marinated in the same sauce.
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31
This char siu is so soft, it'll put a smile on your face.
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32
Here's how to prepare homemade lard:
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33
As in Step 10, remove the char siu after simmering it for 1.5 hours.
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34
While the sauce is still warm, remove the vegetables.
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35
*These vegetable cutoffs are quite salty, so you won't really be able to eat them.
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36
You can try adding a small amount of them to a rice bran pickling mixture.
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37
(If you pickle your own vegetables with rice bran at home, your rice bran pickling mixture will improve in taste with the addition of these heavily simmered vegetable cut-offs.
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38
They'll dissolve into the rice bran and add another dimension to its flavor.)
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39
Once you've removed the vegetable off-cuts from the sauce, leave the sauce to rest and cool.
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40
During the colder months, the fat will solidify and turn white in a few hours.
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41
During the warmer seasons, leave it out to harden overnight.
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42
If it still doesn't seem to be hardening, place it in the refrigerator.
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43
This white fat is your homemade lard.
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44
Remove it carefully from the frying pan with your chopsticks.
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45
You can use homemade lard in preparing ramen noodles or fried rice.
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46
It'll also give more depth to the flavors of stir-fried dishes.
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47
I made some fried rice with homemade char siu sauce and lard.
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48
See.
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49
You can make a variation of this fried rice dish, with just a couple of additional steps.
