Dong Po Braised Pork Belly, Made with Monk Fruit Sweetener

Method

1. Rinse 10 spring onion whites and crush them. Peel the ginger and slice it thinly.
2. Wash 1kg pork belly with dilute salt water and lime, then rinse it thoroughly.
3. Bring a pot of water deep enough to cover the pork to a boil with 5 spring onion whites and a few slices of ginger. Blanch the pork for 2 minutes on each side, then lift it out and rinse it again.
4. Pat the skin dry, brush a little dark soy sauce over it and blot away anything that pools with kitchen paper.
5. Heat a pan over medium heat, lay the pork skin side down and move it around for about 2 minutes, then take it out.
6. Pour 1 liter water into a pot with 27g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 20g sliced ginger and 7 crushed spring onion whites, and stir until dissolved.
7. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce and 1/2 tablespoon glutinous rice wine, and stir well.
8. Arrange 4 pieces of pork in the pot, bring to a boil over high heat, skim the foam, then lower the heat and braise for 30 minutes. Turn the pieces over and braise for another 30 minutes.
9. Turn off the heat, let the pork cool slightly, then tie string around each piece to hold the lean and the fat together.
10. Set the pork in a deep dish, ladle the braising liquid over to cover, and steam for 2 to 3 hours, turning each piece once every hour.

Tips

• Blanching the pork with ginger and spring onion whites is the step that keeps the pot clean smelling.
• Pork belly with even layers of lean and fat stays moist through the long steam.
• kOBE Monk Fruit Blend carries the sweetness and not the color, so a deep tone comes from caramel sauce or a dark soy sauce.
• kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so stir the braising liquid once more after 5 minutes before the pork goes in.
• String tied around each piece before steaming is what keeps the blocks square.