Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce 香菇卤肉燥

Too busy to prepare dinner, yet again? Here's the uber versatile meat sauce to the rescue! When paired with  steamed white rice, you get one of the staple Taiwanese dish, Braised Meat Sauce Rice (肉燥卤肉饭). Just as most overseas Singaporeans would crave for Char Kuay Teow when they are away from home, most Taiwanese I know would long for Braised Meat Sauce Rice when they have been living abroad for extended period of time.

The meat sauce, once prepared, can be split into portions and frozen for up to a month. As and when required, these can be defrosted in the microwave oven and voila, you have a delicious and flavourful sauce that can be used to accompany rice, noodles, blanched vegetables etc... the possibilities are endless and limited only by your own creativity.

I love eating Braised Meat Sauce Rice(卤肉饭) when I am in Taiwan but 2 issues continue to bug me :

1. The Taiwanese BMSR is served with very little meat sauce over the rice. It always leaves me with a sense of insuffeit.

2. My colleagues had warned me that delicious as the dish may be, one needs to consume this with restrain as the dish  is loaded with so much fat that it makes little piggy looks like an anorexic model. This revelation immediately brought the food whimp out of me.

The traditional Braised Meat Sauce uses one of the most fatty portion of the pig, which is the cut near the neck of the pig. Rich in tendon,the grind from the neck(some say the fat/lean ratio is 7/3) allows the meat to braise over long period of time without turning into mush.

In addition, pig skin is also added to the braise to thicken it with its natural collagen.

Preparing this at home, allows me to modify the recipe to make it a little more healthy.



Below is my modified recipe but I have to admit that I am sure about the exact quantity of the seasonings  used. I just seasoned according to taste. That, in my opinion, is the essence of Chinese cooking- it is not about a 2 teaspoon of sugar or 1 tspn of salt - it is about tasting with your tongue and recognising the flavours....and by doing that, my minced meat sauce turned out to be seriously good. If I can achieve this, so can you!



Recipe :

Minced Pork 300g (I used 80% lean pork, 20% belly pork)
Dried Shitake Mushroom 3 pieces
Red Shallots 30g
Chicken Stock 100g (with extra)

Seasoning
Oyster Sauce 1 tbsp
Dark Soya Sauce 20ml
Light Soya Sauce 30ml
Rock Sugar 1/2 tbsp
White Pepper 1/4 tsp
5 spice powder 1/4 tsp
Chinese Wine 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Season minced pork with light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, a little sugar,sesame oil and a little corn starch. (all seasonings not stated in recipe)

Soak shitake mushroom in water and dice into small cubes.

2. In a heated wok, add 1 tbsp oil, fry sliced shallots until brown and crispy. Strain out the fried shallots. Retain the oil in the wok.

3. Heat the shallot oil , fry mushroom until fragrant.Add minced meat and stir fry until 70% cooked.

4. Add all seasoning. (adjust qty according to taste)

5. Add chicken stock and simmer on low heat for one hour. Add crispy fried shallots. Continue to cook another 10 mins. Turn off heat and if possible leave the minced meat over night.

6. Heat up again before serving.If a thicker texture is preferred, thicken with a little potato starch solution.