It's August! And the country for Asian Food Fest (AFF) is "Taiwan". We all know that Taiwan boasts of many colourful and varied cuisine/food choices and most people would visit the night markets to try different street snacks like 炸鸡排 deep fried chicken cutlet, 大肠包小肠 taiwan sausage, 珍珠奶茶 pearl bubble tea, 蚵仔麵線 oyster vermicelli, 甜不辣 tempura etc etc. Personally I have mixed feelings towards Taiwan. Went there with hubby many years ago but somehow didn't enjoy ourselves as much as our Japan trips. Blamed it on the weather, should have gone during late Dec/early Jan where it's much colder but we chose Nov and it was still quite warm. Nevertheless, we tried many of the local dishes and certainly enjoyed eating through our holiday. Anyways, we've been talking about returning to Taiwan for the longest time, hopefully could materialise soon :p I digress. The first dish that I'm attempting is the Braised Pork Rice Bowl, 滷肉飯 (Lu Rou Fan) or Lor Bak Png ( 福建/闽南 Fukien/Hokkien language) which is a comfort food among Taiwanese for its homely mum's taste. As my dialect is Hokkien, this dish bears a nostalgic resemblance to the 扣肉 kong bak or Pork Belly Slices in Dark Sauce that we grew up eating. Ingredients used are quite similar as well, except for the addition of dried shrimps, fried garlic and fried shallots. But I must say the addition of these three ingredients indeed heightened the fragrance and taste of this dish! The gravy was so savory that I couldn't resist eating more rice! The meat glistering in oil and sauce was very flavourful and I'm one who couldn't resist the skin, fats and all. As the gravy and meat were quite salty, it's good to have some greens and pickled radish to help relieve the taste bud. It also seemed imperative to add hard boiled eggs and indeed, the eggs provided a different texture which complemented the dish really well. When I told hubby that I was cooking this dish, he wasn't very keen, but after tasting it, he gave thumbs up! This recipe is certainly a keeper and I believe I will be cooking this dish from time to time :) Taiwanese braised pork on rice (滷肉飯 Lor Bak Png) (recipe reference: Taiwan Duck) Ingredients 500g pork belly, cut into 4-5mm thin pieces 1 tbsp dried shrimp, soaked for at least 30 mins and coarsely chopped 25g rock sugar (I use brown sugar in pieces 冰片糖) 1 star anise 1 pinch five spice powder 2 tbsp light soy sauce 2 tbsp dark soy sauce 1 tbsp fried garlic 1/4 cup fried shallots 1/4 cup rice wine (I use Shaoxing cooking wine) 4 hard-boil eggs Water (enough to cover all the ingredients by more than 1 inch) Salt, to taste steamed short-grain rice, blanched xiaobai cai (or any veggies of choice), Japanese pickled radish Steps Heat a cooking pot on medium fire, dry fry the pork till slightly browned. Add the dried shrimps and stir fry for 1 min. Add the rock sugar, star anise and five spice powder, and stir fry for 1 min. Add the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fried garlic, fried shallots, and half portion of the rice wine. Cover the pot and cook the food for 4-5 mins. Remove cover, add enough water to cover the ingredients by more than 1 inch. Add the eggs, cover the pot and cook for 30 mins on low heat, turning the eggs occasionally so that they absorb the flavours. Remove cover, add the other half portion of rice wine, cover and cook for 2 more mins. Serve warm with steamed rice, blanched vegetables and Japanese pickled radish. I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest #10 Aug 2014 : Taiwan hosted by travelling-foodies.