Chinese pork rind jelly (肉皮冻)
Springy & slippery, Chinese pork rind jelly is truly a delight to enjoy. There is no commercial gelatin involved and it’s very simple to prepare.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
For braising the pork rind
- 200 g pork rind (pork skin) 7oz
- 600 ml water 2½ cups
- 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 stalk scallions
- 3 slice ginger
- 1 star-anise
- 1 piece cassia cinnamon
- 1 bay leaf
For the dressing
- 4 teaspoon black rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon pure sesame oil
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 tablespoon homemade chilli oil or fresh chilli, chopped
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Coriander chopped
Instructions
- Boil pork rind for 3 minutes then drain. Cut it into narrow strips when cool enough to handle (see note 1).
- Pour water into a clean pot. Add pork rind strips and other ingredients from braising. Bring the water to a boil then leave to simmer (with the lid on) for 50-60 mins until the pork rind becomes very soft.
- Discard scallions, ginger and the spices. Pour everything else into a container. When completely cool, store in the fridge for 3-4 hours until a hard block of jelly forms.
- Cut the jelly block as you like (thin slices or cubes) then place on a serving plate. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing. Pour it over the jelly then serve with plain rice and other savoury dishes (see note 2).
Notes
1. Scrape off excess fat from the pork rind if there is any. This is to make the jelly less cloudy.
2. This recipe makes approximately 4 servings. In China, this dish is usually served as part of a multi-course meal. Thus half of the quantity will normally be enough for one single meal (as you have other dishes to share at the same time). You can store the rest of the jelly in the fridge for up to 3 days.
3. You can use this recipe to make aspic for the filling of Chinese Soup Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao). After braising, pour the broth into a container through a sieve. Discard the pork rind. Keep in the fridge until it turns into jelly. Finely chop it then add to the filling for soup dumplings.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 327kcal
