Ingredients

• 1/2 lbs pork
• 1½ Tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1½ Tablespoon dark soy sauce If you like your food on the sweeter side, you can use kicap manis instead of dark soy sauce.
• ¼ T 5 spice powder Substitute: spices such as cinnamon stick, star anise and peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar +extra for the sauce later, to taste Substitute: rock sugar
• 1 Tablespoons Oil
• 1 bulb garlic peeled and minced
• Water Enough to just about cover the meat in the pan. Substitute: pork stock
• Salt to taste
• Hard boiled eggs/ firm tofu/ cooked peanuts/ dried shiitake mushrooms/ carrots Optional
• Coriander leaves Optional garnish, rough chop
• Sambal belacan chilli Optional

Directions

• 15 minutes before you want to cook, add both soy sauces, the white sugar and the 5-spice powder to the pork. Mix well and leave covered on the counter to come to room temperature.
• In the meantime, mince up your garlic.
• Heat your pot over low-medium heat, then add some vegetable oil or lard. When the oil is shimmering, add the garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Tip: If you have whole spices such as star anise, white peppercorns and cassia cinnamon, you can crush them then add and stir fry in the oil for a more aromatic dish.
• Increase the heat to medium then add the pork and lightly brown the pieces. It should caramelise nicely thanks to the sugar and dark soy added!Note: Reduce the heat to low if using pork belly. If not, your dish will be super oily!
• Add enough water (or pork stock) to cover the pork then cover and simmer for 40-60 minutes, or till the pork is soft, cooked and you get a nice syrupy sauce. Remember to top up the water if the pan is drying out!Tip: Don't add too much water at first or you may be braising for ever. You may also need to top up some extra water if your pan gets dry.
• If including hard boiled eggs/ tofu/ carrots to bulk up the dish, add them in during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. (You can actually add the other ingredients earlier if you want their flavour to be more concentrated, however this will give you overcooked eggs with the tell-tale green rim around the powdery yolks)
• At the same time, taste and season the stew (salt and maybe more sugar- will depend on the dark soy you use) accordingly to taste then serve with a bowl of piping hot white rice.

Photos