Pork Braised with Sauerkraut
内蒙古猪肉烩酸菜
Inner Mongolian food is as hearty as it comes. In a frozen December, when the winds of northern China are blistering across the baron grasslands and slapping you in the face, this is the dish you want on the table.
A big steaming stew of braised pork, with those soft potatoes and sauerkraut sucking up the rich fatty flavour. Get it on the stove and leave it there for hours as it blips away on a low simmer, filling the kitchen with a blanket of flavour.
Generally in China, meat is cooked and served on the bone. They believe it has a better flavour, and there’s also more novelty; eating around the bone and having to work for it a little bit it more satisfying. Westerners often see bone-in meat as annoying and the result of a lazy chef, but it’s simply a different eating philosophy.
You can use any braising cut for this dish. Traditionally it was head meat, but now it’s more common to be a pork shank/knuckle or pork ribs.
Serves 3-4
Ingredients
500 - 600g of bone-in pork (ribs, neck, shank) - roughly cut into 3-inch chunks.
100g pork belly - sliced and cut into 1cm squares
1 large potato (250g - 300g) - peeled - cut into large 2cm cubes.
500g of Chinese sauerkraut
1/2 leek - sliced
25g of fresh ginger - peeled and roughly chopped
6 cloves of garlic - roughly chopped
4 star anise
1 teaspoon - five spice power
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan pepper- ground
1 tablespoon - light soy sauce
2 teaspoon- dark soy sauce
50g of cooked Chinese glass noodles
Salt
Pepper
To Finish:
2 spring onion - sliced
1 garlic clove - finely diced
Method
You’ll need a large saucepan or wok for this dish. Heat the pan on a medium high heat. Add a dash of oil to the pan then add the pork belly and fry until coloured and the fat is released. Then add the chunks of pork and brown on all sides.
Add the star anise, ginger, garlic and leek and fry for a minute until they are fragrant.
Add the five spice powder, ground Sichuan pepper, soy sauces and season with salt and pepper if needed. Cook for another minute.
Add a cup of water (until the meat is covered) and simmer for an hour. Add more water as needed. After an hour or so the sauce should be thick.
Wash the sauerkraut, and squeeze out the water as best you can chop it, if needed (Chinese sauerkraut is sometimes preserved whole, rather than shredded like German sauerkraut). Add to the pan with another cup of water and simmer for another 40 minutes.
Meanwhile parboil the potatoes in a separate pot - they’ll probably only take 5-10 minutes.
Add the parboiled potatoes to the stew and simmer for another 40 minutes. As the potatoes cook, crush them with a fork. If the pot looks too dry, add a touch more water, but at this point, it should start to reduce. You don’t want much water left by the end of this final simmer.
Cook the glass noodles in a separate pan, then add to the pot and mix altogether. The final dish should have a bit of thick sauce, but not wet or stew-like. Right before serving, stir in the spring onion and garlic and mix.
