Passport & Plate - Muy Choy Kao Yuk - Preserved Chinese Mustard Pork
Malaysia | Wednesday, February 19, 2014 | 5 photos
Ingredients
A beautiful strip of pork belly, trimmed preferably
Five spice powder
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce
Sweet soy sauce
A pack of preserved chinese mustard (available at most Chinese grocers)
A few bulbs of garlic
A thumb-sized piece of ginger
A couple of star anise
How to prepare this recipe1. Praise the lovely pork belly - make sure it knows that its sacrifice is worthwhile and the end result, it will be super amazing.
2. Start coating the belly with the five spice powder. Let it marinate for 30 minutes or so. Clean the preserved Chinese mustard by slicing them to about half an inch in length and soak in water.
3. Heat the oil in the wok and chuck in the garlic. Saute at a low fire to really bring out the scent of the garlic.
4. Then add in the ginger and star anise.
5. When the smell of the star anise reaches your palate (you will know it), gently lay the pork belly with skin facing down. Do it slowly or you will get some hot oil splashes and that´s no fun.
6. Brown all sides of the belly generously then add in hot water till the belly is completely submerged. Cover the wok and keep the fire on a steady medium heat.
7. In the meantime, while that is being braised, you can catch a 30-minute tv show or do some ironing, whichever makes you happy.
8. Prepare a pot (I use a heavy clay pot - this is by preference) with heating the oil and frying a couple of smashed garlic.
9. Rinse out the preserved Chinese mustard, and throw it in the pot. Use a wooden spoon to break the vegetable so they don´t stick together.
10. Pour in the medley of soy sauces and ensure that the vegetables are properly resting in the liquids and they are nicely bubbling away. Then remove them and place in a bowl.
11. Now, we can´t forget the belly. Every commercial break, should check on the status and make sure it is being cooked as an all-rounder and not just one side.
12. By this time, they should be ready (when the liquid has dried up and the pork is tender) so take it out and slice it to about a thumb-size thickness.
13. When all is sliced up, arrange them on the bottom of the same pot that was used for the vegetables. Layer the soggy salty vegetables on top, a little water and cover the pot. Cook on low heat for about 30-45 minutes.
14. Dig in to heaven.
The story behind this recipeWhen my grandparents were still alive, we used to visit them every Sunday. I used to love these trips until I became a teenager. Then I would only go once a month, twice if my mother managed to guilt me into it. It was a shame, really because I was my grandmother´s favourite and she would feed me continuously while the rest of my cousins sit in their envy.
Being Chinese immigrants who escaped from Canton to avoid the Japanese invasion, my grandparents did their best in raising 5 children in near poverty. They were so poor that my mother thought she was a vegetarian her whole life, and not because they couldn´t afford meat. Then the British who was colonising Malaya at that time provided a small piece of land and some funds to start a better life and my mother and her siblings all went and got their education including tertiary, which left my grandparents with an empty nest.
That´s when I came along and became the apple of their eye. Grandpa used to peel grapes for me and take me into the town centre for a game of dominos while I sit on my high chair and eat steamed kaya and butter bread. And grandma would conjure up the most delicious meals in the kitchen whilst waiting for us to return.
This dish, Muy Choy Kau Yuk or Preserved Chinese Mustard with Pork was her best dish and she would do it in a bowl instead then flip it so the presentation was a round little bowling ball of pork sitting on the muy choy. Her pork was so succulent and tender that you can feel the fatty bits melt in your mouth. She used to gently cut off the layer of fat and have it herself so I won´t feel gross eating it (if I only knew then what I know now).
All my aunts and uncles have tried to perfect this and failed. Grandma´s passed away for 10 years now and no one has been able to even match hers, let alone outdo. Not even mine. And I kind of like to have hers in my memory because there, she´s sharing the dish with me and painstakingly removing the fatty bits still. I miss them so much.
