Passport & Plate - Uncle's Chinese New Year Pork Belly and Yam
Malaysia | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 6 photos
Ingredients
1 kg Pork Belly
1 kg Yam (equivalent of Pork Belly)
Sauce
4 cubes of Nam Yue (aka red fermented bean curd)
1 1/2 cubes Fu Yue (aka perserved bean curd in chilli)
2 spoonful of port or sherry
2 spoonful of black soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
How to prepare this recipePreparation of pork belly
1) poke holes on the pork belly
2) clean skin with rice vinegar
3) dry the pork belly
4) cut the pork belly to bite sizes (the size of the pork bites and the yam should be the same)
5) Fry the pork slices for 20 to 30 seconds till it is golden brown
Preparation of the yam
1) cut the yam into small bite sizes
2) fry the yam until it turn golden brown or as my uncle would say for 20 to 30 seconds
Marinate
Once the pork and yam cool down it is time to marinate
First mix the ingredients for the sauce till it is a smooth mixture
Then dip the yam into the sauce, coat well
Place the sauce covered yam at the bottom of the pot
Dip the pork slices into the sauce, coat well
Place the pork slices on top of the yam at the bottom of the pot
Repeat the procedure till you have a pot full of delicious looking yam and pork belly on top of one another.
Steam
Steam for about 3 hours over slow flame.
After 3 hours you will have a pot of steaming and wonderful pot of pork belly and yam.
The story behind this recipeThe Yam and Pork belly has been part of my family's Chinese New Year tradition for as long as I can remember.
Although my family are Cantonese from Guangdong Province in China before my ancestors migrated to Malaysia, the dish is essentially a Hakka dish. How my Cantonese family in Malaysia started eating a Hakka dish every Chinese New Year has it beginnings in Australia.
The story goes that my uncle who is currently in his 80s was studying to be an accountant in Australia when he missed Chinese food. He lamented on this to his local butcher who was an Indonesian Chinese and this kind gentlemen had in turn gave my uncle the yam and pork belly recipe. I think the recipe was a simple and brilliant for a young foreign student with limited resources and cooking skills as the method of preparation was simple and the ingredients are easy to come by.
However, this act of kindness in the form of a receipe from a local butcher has since turned into one my uncle's repertoire of dishes which our family look forward to each Chinese New Year. Whenever I think of this dish I could almost taste the soft yam that just melts in your mouth after being steamed for hours to perfection. The softness of the yam complements the sturdy bite of the pork perfectly especially eaten with a bowl of warm steaming rice.
This recipe is special to me as I love the story behind the recipe. It is amazing how a recipe from an acquaintance could one day be something that is part of family tradition and part of someone's life that is cherished. I have never met the man behind the recipe but I know that this family dish would be one that will be in my family for many more generations to come and so would the story behind this recipe.
