Rou-zao-fan

If you have followed this blog closely, you would perhaps notice that I love using ground meat as a topping for rice.  In the past, I have made Japanese variations like niku miso and buta soboro gohan.  This time, I present you a lazy version of rou-zao-fan (肉燥飯), a common Taiwanese dish that tastes distinctively different from these previous recipes.

Ingredients and Procedure
(Serves 2) 

• 300g ground pork
• 4 gloves of garlic, minced
• 4 shallots, minced
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
• 70mL light soy sauce
• 10mL dark soy sauce
• 100g Chinese rock sugar (bing-tang)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 anise stars
• 1 dash of ground white pepper
• 60mL water
• green onion or coriander, chopped (optional)

In this recipe, we are using Chinese soy sauces: light soy sauce for flavour and dark soy sauce for colour.  I accidentally added too much dark soy sauce in mine; the ideal product should be a nice and golden “milk chocolate” brown instead of a “dark chocolate” brown.  

Normally, the recipe also calls for deep-fried shallots that are available at Chinese specialty stores.  However, because my local supermarkets do not stock this product, I am using just regular shallots.

We will begin by stir-frying the minced garlic and shallots in a frying pan over medium high heat.  When the garlic and shallots are fragrant and golden, add the minced pork and stir vigorously.  Like other minced meat recipes, we want to break the pork into finer pieces.  Continue cooking until pork has turned colour.

Next, transfer everything in the pan to a pot and remove excess oil.  Add soy sauces, rock sugar, cinnamon, anise, white pepper, and water.  Bring pot to boil, and let shimmer over low heat for 30 minutes.  If you find the sauce too salty, add rock sugar; if you find it not salty enough, add salt.  Add hard-boiled eggs and shimmer for 20 more minutes.  

Serve over rice or noodles and garnish with chopped green onions or coriander if you wish.

Afterthoughts

A simple, flexible, and flavourful dish: my favourite kind of recipe!  Personally, I like the marinated eggs just as much as the pork itself: they are sort of like a sponge that soaks up the rich sauce.  If you want to, you can also add fried tofu too.