Keyword: braised pork belly and buns, Braised pork buns, kung bak bao
Prep Time: 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 1 hourhour10 minutesminutes
Total Time: 1 hourhour30 minutesminutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 899kcal
Author: Bee Leng | The Burning Kitchen
Braised Pork Buns, or Kung Bak Pao has generous portions of tender, melt-in-your-mouth braised pork belly slices served with freshly steamed leaf buns, crispy lettuce, eggs and firm tofu. So delicious! Learn how to perfect braised pork belly with this recipe.
Rub the skin of the pork belly with coarse salt to remove dirt and dead skin. Remove any remnant hair on the pork skin.
Place the pork belly in a wok of water, turn the heat to high and boil for about 10 mins to get rid of the blood clots and scum. Discard the water and wash the pork thoroughly.
Pat dry with kitchen towel and cut the pork belly in half (2 square pieces) and set aside.
Boil the eggs in a pot (see tips).
Remove the skin from the ginger, then wash and slice it into 4-5 slices.
Wash the firm tofu (tua kwa), cut into 6 pieces and set aside.
Wash the lettuce and pat dry. Place into a sealed food container and then leave in the fridge.
Wash the parsley and cut into 1 cm lengths. Set aside.
Rinse the garlic with skin on, then smash it lightly with a chopper.
COOKING METHOD
Glaze a clean wok with a little oil over medium high heat.
When the wok is heated up, place the 2 pieces of pork belly skin down on the wok to brown. Use the back of the spatula to press the pork down against the wok so that it will brown more evenly.
Once the pork skin is nicely browned but not burnt, remove and transfer to a plate.
Using the same wok, add 2 tbsp oil, ginger slices, garlic, cloves, star anise, cinnamon and pepper. Fry till aromatic.
Put the pork belly back to the wok, add in the black sauce, light sauce and salt. Fry for a few mins until well mixed .
Transfer the pork belly (skin down) together with all the other ingredients into a big pot.
Add in 1.5 litre of water or enough water to cover the pork belly and turn heat to high. Once the water is boiling, turn heat to medium and slowly simmer the pork belly for about 1 hour, turning it over occasionally to prevent it from getting burnt at the bottom.
Use a skewer to pierce through the meat to check if it is tender. If not, continue to simmer for another few mins.
When the pork is tender, transfer it onto a deep dish for serving.
Add the hard-boiled eggs and tua kua to the sauce and continue to simmer for another 5-7 mins. When done, cut the eggs into half and add them back to the sauce
Steam the leaf buns in a covered pot of boiling water for 8-10 minutes if frozen and 4-6 minutes if refrigerated. Make sure the water is boiling before placing the buns into the pot and wipe off any condensation from the lid before covering the pot.
Cut the pork belly into 1 cm thick slices, and drizzle some gravy over it.
Serve the pork belly slices together with the steaming hot pau, gravy with eggs and tua kua, lettuce and parsley.
Notes
MARKETING TIPS
Use dark soya sauce which is thick in texture and not too salty, but has some sweetness in it. I use the Elephant brand in a square bottle which is available at NTUC and Sheng Siong. You can also use the Dark Soya Sauce Superior from Kwong Cheong Thye. These two brands of dark sauce are not very salty and have some sweet taste in it.
Don't mistake dark soya sauce for dark sweet sauce which is mainly use for food like Soon Kueh, Png Kueh or fried Chai Tow Kueh (Fried Carrot Cake).
Ask the butcher to give you the thicker part of the belly with no bone and less fat (unless you prefer the fat) when you buy pork belly.
COOKING TIPS
Cook Kung Bak without cutting it into small pieces. Firstly, if it is too tender, the cut meat will fall apart easily. Secondly it is more presentable when the pork is cut out after cooking, there is a contrast of black and white colors which look more appetising.
Taste the soy sauce first before adding it to the pork or the dish will turn out super salty.
Use tau pok to replace tau kwa or use both if that is your preference.
Boil the pork belly to remove the porky smell. We do that so that the gravy will not be cloudy after cooking as well.
HOW TO BOIL EGGS
Add in enough tap water to cover the eggs.
Turn heat to medium and boil the eggs for about 15-20 mins uncovered.
Discard the hot water and add in tap water to cool the egg before removing the shell, then set aside.