Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tau Yew Bak 豆油肉 Soya Sauce Pork Belly Stew - "Malaysian Monday 23"


We Melbournians can be a bunch of whingers when it comes to the weather; it is always too cold, too hot, too wet, too dry and the list goes on. We are into the 2nd month of summer but the elusive hot days are still avoiding us so one can only imagine the outrage in our weather obsessed town. I on the other hand decided to take the opportunity to make a hearty pork belly stew on one of the chilly summer nights. Tau yew bak (豆油肉) meaning soya sauce meat in the Hokkien dialect can be found all over Southeast Asia (with their respective local touches) wherever there are Hokkiens or Teochews migrants, remember a similar dish (ka muu palo, pork leg stew) I posted recently?. I first tried this at a childhood friend's house when I was 12 and was instantly hooked. After obtaining the recipe from my friend's mother, I cooked my first pot of tau yew bak soon after and have not looked back since. This is perfect for all my friends and readers who are experiencing one of the coldest winter in record; the beautiful aroma that fills your kitchen will blow your winter blues away long before you get to taste the delicious stew.



original recipe by Mrs. Chan
serves 4 as part of a Chinese meal
you'll need;
1 kg of pork belly, cut into 10 cm strips and marinated with a dash of dark soy
3 tbs of rock sugar
30 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 slices of ginger
5 dried chillies
1 cassia bark
1 star anise
1 tsp of five spice powder
2 tbs of light soy
2 tbs of dark soy
2 l of stock or water
4 to 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
*tofu puffs can be added together with the eggs



Don't be alarmed by the amount of garlic used here as they will melt into the delicious sauce after 2 hours of slow cooking.



Marinate the pork belly strips with a dash of dark soy.



Brown the pork strips in batches and set aside.



Peel the hard boiled eggs and set aside.



Add a little oil in a pot and add in the rock sugar;  when the sugar melts and turn golden add in the garlic, ginger slices and aromatics and cook for 3 minutes before adding the stock and seasonings. Cover and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours.



Remove the impurities and excess fat from time to time.



Add eggs and cook uncovered during the last 20 minutes. Check for seasonings and add a little dark caramel sauce if one prefer a darker stew.



Serve the melt in your mouth pork belly stew with plenty of steamed rice and perhaps a simple stir fried greens.



Next time instead of whinging about the cold summer evening, make a big pot of tau yew bak instead!



My friend Sharon from Test With A Skewer will be hosting the first event of 2011. Please send all your  January entries to its.sharon.gmail.com, to find out more about the event please click HERE

29 comments:

  1. I can almost taste that tender and juicy pork right now...yum! We are off to Singapore tomorrow morning for a week so I am going to see if I can find somewhere that serves this as soon as we arrive!

    Happy New Year and best wishes,
    Natasha.

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  2. Bring on the cold nights as long as I am eating food like this! I love tau yew bak and I am thinking of making this for tmr.

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  3. I am Hokkien and your tau yew bak looks as good as my grandma's lol

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  4. this is one of my favourite recipes too.

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  5. That pork meal looks and sounds delicious!
    A perfect dish for this time of year.

    Big hugs!

    B X's

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  6. Harriet from carltonJanuary 4, 2011 at 10:36 PM

    We are a bunch of whingers indeed lol I will be happy to enjoy this wonderful dish on a cold summer night too.

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  7. 這像我們台灣的爌肉, 我家老爺的最愛。 :)

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  8. This dish of yours is one of my favourites when we have white porridge. Yours look very appealing as well.

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  9. Oh yum, one of my favourites. I knew it uses a lot of garlic, but didn't realise up to 30 cloves! Wow :) The weather up here has been pretty grey but luckiy not too cold. We're lucky though, those poor Queenslanders have copped it really bad.

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  10. yum yum..the skin of that pork belly is the tastiest part!!

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  11. Holy moly that looks delicious; especially in London where it's actually freezing...

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  12. looks tasty love all the garlic in here we may be coming to Melbourne in March would love to meet up!

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  13. Wow...such a perfect meal..Happy New year to you all!!

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  15. I can just picture how this would taste! Definitely one to make when the weather gets colder.

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  16. I can just imagine how good this smells. It looks awfully good! I would eat it even now when we are almost up to our normal average temps at 70 degrees.

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  17. I love tau yew bak. One of those dishes that reminds me of home and yours looks really delicious. My mom always put dried squid whenever she made this. It gives a very nice taste to the dish too. Yours looks divine...mmmm...i love pork belly.

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  18. Wow. i cannot believe you are cooking this in summer. Oh wow. Oh how I need this to fortify my winter days.

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  19. We love pork belly here and this is another must try for us. I am quite happy with the weather atm lol

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  20. Mmmm a little bit hard to go on a diet when you are tempting us with such a delicious pork belly dish!

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  21. I know my boys are going to love this! Looks so delicious!

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  22. Ooooh, yes! I love tau yew bak! My mother would try to make it with healthier cuts though. :P

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