Tian Shao Bai (Sweet Steamed Pork Belly with Red Bean Paste)

Ingredients

• 800g pork belly, skin on, in one piece
• 200g sweet red bean paste
• 250g glutinous rice
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 100g caster sugar
• 40g lard
• 30g ginger, sliced
• 3 spring onions
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 500ml rapeseed oil, for frying
• 2 tbsp candied orange peel or preserved winter melon, chopped

Before you cook

• Rinse the glutinous rice and leave it to soak in cold water for 3 hours, then drain it well.
• Scrape the pork skin clean and pull out any bristles.
• Loosen the red bean paste with a spoon so it spreads easily.

Steps

1. Put the pork belly in a pan with the ginger, spring onions and Shaoxing wine, and cover it with cold water.
2. Bring it to the boil, skim off the foam, then simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Lift the pork out and dry the skin thoroughly with kitchen paper.
4. Brush the skin with the dark soy sauce and leave it for 10 minutes.
5. Heat the oil in a deep pan to 180C.
6. Lower the pork in skin side down and cover with a lid, as it will spit hard.
7. Fry for 4 minutes, until the skin is blistered and dark.
8. Drop the pork into a bowl of hot water for 15 minutes so the skin wrinkles and softens.
9. Drain the pork and cut it into slices about 6mm thick, stopping short of the skin on every second cut so the slices stay joined in pairs.
10. Open each pair like a book and spread red bean paste inside.
11. Pack the filled slices skin side down into a deep heatproof bowl, curving them around the sides.
12. Scatter half the sugar over the pork.
13. Melt the lard and stir it through the drained glutinous rice with the rest of the sugar.
14. Spoon the rice on top of the pork and press it down firmly, leaving room for it to swell.
15. Pour 150ml of hot water over the rice.
16. Steam the bowl over simmering water for 2 hours, checking the water level every half hour.
17. Test the rice, which should be glossy and completely tender.
18. Rest the bowl for 5 minutes out of the steamer.
19. Invert a plate over the bowl and turn them both over together.
20. Lift the bowl off and scatter the candied peel over the dome before serving.