I cooked: Chinese mui choy chu yok (braised pork belly with preserved vegetables)

In our home, we try to eat healthily most of the time but occasionally as a treat, we would have pork belly. One of our favorite cooking style for pork belly is mui choy chu yok (braised pork belly with preserved vegetables).  My mum used to cook this for me and my brother when we were younger, so now I am cooking it for my family too.

Mui choy chu yok (braised pork belly with preserved vegetables)

Mui choy is made using mustard greens and preserved using salt, hence it is a very salty vegetable. You need to soak it for at least 3 hours, changing the water 5-6 times to remove the salt from the vegetable. However, do not overdo this as you still want some of the saltiness of the mui choy to remain as it will flavour your pork belly nicely during the cooking process. The gravy, tinge with a little saltiness is perfect with a bowl of white rice. We like our pork belly with melting layers of fat, hence cooking time is approximately 2 hours, but if you like the fats slightly chewier then reduce the cooking time by 30-40 minutes.

Mui choy chu yok (braised pork belly with preserved vegetable)
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
400g pork belly
300g mui choy, soak for 3 hours, change 5-6 times
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
2 tbsp cooking oil
100g peanut, soak for 1 hour (optional)
4 pcs dried chilli
1/2 bulb garlic, minced
1 whole garlic
1.3l of water4 pcs dried chilli (optional)

1. Marinate the pork belly with soy sauce and Shaoxing wine for at least 2 hours.

2. In a large pot over medium high heat, add cooking oil and minced garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Then, add the pork belly and brown the meat slightly, for about 2-3 minutes (do not pour in the marinade sauce). If you want to add dried chillis (for a bit of a kick), then add it at the same time as the minced garlic.

3. Add peanut and whole garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant, before adding the mui choy to cook for another minute. Add water, bring to the boil and then simmer under low heat for 2 hours or until fat layers are wobbly.

4. The dish should be salty/flavourful enough due to the use of mui choy, but do taste it and add salt if necessary.

5. Serve immediately with boiled rice.

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here.