Lu Rou Fan, which literally means "Braised Meat Rice", is made by braising pork in soy sauce with other aromatics. This fatty and delicious mixture is usually spooned over a bowl of steaming hot rice and served with eggs and firm tofu. This recipe can serves 6 to 8 people.
Place mushrooms in a bowl and pour boiling water over. Invert a bowl to submerge the mushrooms completely under water. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes or until soft. Squeeze dry and slice them into cubes. Top up the mushroom water with plain water or stock until you have 1 litre of liquid. Set aside.
8 pieces dried shiitake mushrooms
Rinse and dry pork belly thoroughly with paper towels. Cut into 3/4 to 1-inch cubes.
800 grams pork belly
Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add in oil then add in garlic, ginger, star anise and cinnamon stick. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the pork belly into the pot. Cook until most of the pork belly cubes are no longer pink, then add in the 1 litre of mushroom-water-stock liquid, shiitake mushroom cubes, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, five spice powder, rock sugar and fried shallots. (Basically, everything except the hard-boiled eggs, firm tofu, rice and fresh coriander.)
60 ml dark soy sauce, 80 ml Shaoxing wine, 30 ml light soy sauce, 30 ml oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon five spice powder, 2 tablespoons rock sugar, 60 grams fried shallots
Cover and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally (every 10 to 15 minutes). During this time you can cook your hard-boiled eggs and peel them.
Add in the hard-boiled eggs and firm tofu and simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring frequently (every 5 to 10 minutes), until the eggs and tofu are evenly coloured. You will need to stir more frequently as the sauce is drying up and the meat may get burnt at the bottom. Add in more water if the mixture looks dry.
4 hard-boiled eggs, 200 grams firm tofu
Scoop rice into rice bowls and place an egg and tofu on top. Scoop the meat mixture generously onto the rice. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve immediately.
Rice, Fresh coriander
NOTES
If you forgot to soak the shiitake mushrooms overnight, boil them with water in a pot for 15 minutes until soft. Let cool and proceed according to recipe.
I used store-bought fried shallots, but you can also make them from scratch at home if you have the time.
If you are making a huge batch to freeze, after 1 hour of simmering, scoop out whatever you are planning to serve that day and braise it together with the eggs and tofu. Let the rest cool and freeze in individual portions.
Eggs are not added at the start as the texture will become rubbery if boiled for too long.