Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese Pork Rice Bowl, 卤肉饭)

Ingredients

Here is all that you need for cooking Lu Rou Fan:

• Pork belly with skin on, cut into strips
• Shallots (or red onion), thinly sliced, plus oil for frying
• Shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated and diced
• Eggs
• Garlic, minced
• Rock sugar (or regular sugar)
• Light & dark soy sauce
• Shaoxing rice wine (skip for an alcohol-free version)
• Chinese five-spice powder & white pepper
• Rice
• Green vegetable

🛎 Can I use other cuts of pork? Obviously, this isn’t a healthy diet choice but an indulgent dish. So I don’t recommend you replace pork belly with other cuts or another type of meat.  

Cooking procedure

It takes about one and a half hour to prepare and cook this dish (It may seem long but it’s totally worth the effort!). Before we go into details on each step, here is a summary of the workflow.

• Fry sliced shallots in oil until crispy (skip this step if using shop-bought version). Cook hard-boiled eggs over another burner at the same time.
• Fry pork belly strips (without oil) until slightly golden then add aromatics, seasonings, fried shallots, shiitake mushroom, eggs and water. Leave to simmer until tender.
• While waiting, cook rice and blanch green vegetable of your choice. Assemble the bowl once the pork is done.

Step 1: make crispy shallots

Crispy shallots (fried shallots, 油葱酥) are an essential (and magical) ingredient for Lu Rou Fan. They add an oniony taste and aromatic sweetness making the dish different from other types of Chinese style braised pork, such as the classic Hong Shao Rou (Red braised pork belly, 红烧肉). They also help to thicken the consistency of the broth.

Although shop-bought crispy shallots are available in most Chinese/Asian shops, I highly recommend you make your own if time permits. Believe me! It tastes so much better.

Heat up neutral cooking oil in a wok/pan then put in thinly sliced shallots (or red onion). The quantity of oil should be enough to allow the shallots to float.

Fry over medium heat and remove from heat as soon as the shallots brown (overcooking would result in a bitter taste). Drain through a sieve. Set aside the fried shallots for later use.

🛎 What to do with the leftover oil? It’s not going to be wasted for sure! Use it like the classic Scallion Oil (Cong You/葱油) which can be enjoyed in so many delicious ways (Shanghai Scallion Oil Noodles is a great example).

🛎 Cook eggs at the same time. It took me about 7 minutes to fry the shallots. If you have another burner available, I suggest you cook some hard-boiled eggs during this time. You’ll need them in the next step.

Step 2: cook the pork

Put the pork strips into an empty wok/pan over medium-high heat (you don’t need any oil). Stir occasionally to evenly heat the meat. You’ll see it changing colour and some oil appearing. So what you’re doing is actually frying the meat with its own fat.

Once the pork gets golden slightly, add minced garlic and rock sugar (or white sugar). Fry until the garlic becomes fragrant and the sugar is melted.

Add the rest of the ingredients: light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, five-spice powder, white pepper, diced shiitake mushroom, hard-boiled eggs and fried shallots (I like keeping some to use as a topping when assembling the dish).

To add more aroma to the dish, I use the water in which the mushrooms were soaked as the braising liquid. Top up with more water if necessary to fully immerse the meat.

Once it comes to a full boil. Cover with a lid and turn down the heat to low. Leave to simmer for at least 1 hour until the pork becomes very tender and a little gelatinous.

🛎 Use other cookware. The braising part can be done in a stovetop pressure cooker, an instant pot or a slow cooker. Adjust time accordingly.

🛎 Reduce the broth. If there is still a lot of liquid left when the pork is fully cooked, turn the heat to high and boil uncovered to reduce its volume and thicken. However, do not dry it out as it’s nice to serve a little thick broth over the rice.

Step 3: assemble the bowl

While you wait for the pork to cook, prepare another two elements of Lu Rou Fan: steamed rice and blanched green vegetable, such as Bok Choy, Choy Sum, Gai Lan, broccoli, etc.

Blanching vegetables is easy: bring a pot of water, with a little salt, to a full boil then add the vegetable (already washed and chopped). For leafy greens, it only takes 30 seconds or so to cook. Broccoli needs a little longer time. The goal is to cook it but retain its crunchiness. Overcooked vegetables often taste chewy or mushy which isn’t very pleasurable.

Put cooked rice into serving bowls then top with the vegetable. Use a knife (or a string) to halve the eggs. Add them and the pork over the rice. Sprinkle some leftover crispy shallots. Here you are! An all-in-one, scrumptious meal is ready to be served.

🛎 Make in advance. Since this dish takes some time to cook, I highly recommend you cook a large batch of pork and freeze the leftover for future use. Simply increase the ingredient quantity proportionally and lengthen the cooking time accordingly.