Malaysian Fusion Taiwanese Stew Pork

I have always been a big fan of pork. Western or Eastern; cooked in whatever methods imaginable; fresh or cured; I'm ready to gobble them down. One of my personal favorites is the Taiwanese Stew Pork (滷肉) and the fact that I'm quite good in cooking this well under 20 minutes means this recipe is good. It's created by my mum anyways, passed down to me via a Skype call. That should represent the simplicity of this dish right?



Some friends have asked why I didn't share this on the food blog. Reason being... I always eat them up before having the time to snap a picture. Seriously.




So readers, you're in for a treat today. It so happened that I cooked up a bowl of these today and remembered to take a picture of them.

MY RECIPE:

Difficulty level: 30%
Preparation time: 20 minutes (or more depending on the size of pork used)
Ingredients:

• 3 pork chops (I prefer pork shoulder)
• 6 shiitake mushrooms
• 2 star anise
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 tablespoons of sugar
• caramelized dark soy sauce
• corn flour
  
• one pinch of salt to taste

Steps:

1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in water and pop the 4 cloves of garlic.
   
2. Prepare a pot and put in the four tablespoons of sugar on medium heat.
3. Let the sugar caramelize and once they turn brown add in the star anise and cinnamon sticks.
4. Stir till aromatic (less than 1 minute) and add in the garlic cloves with the softened shiitake mushrooms.
5. Continue to stir for about 2 minutes and then add in half cup of water.
6. Bring in to boil and put in the pork chops. Put the heat to medium and pour in two tablespoons of the thick dark soy sauce. Add a cup of water and a pinch of salt into the pot.
   
7. Close the lid and let the pork cook for 10 minutes.
8. Take out the pork chops (only) and slice them into chunks on the chopping board.
9. Place the chunks of pork back into the pot and add some corn flour to thicken the sauce.
   
10. Turn off the heat.

There you go! The reason why you cook the pork chop in whole is because pork meat gets tough easily and you don't want to be biting them instead of chewing them down your throat. My mum's recipe is simpler than the original recipe from Taiwan (I suppose) and good luck trying it out!