Braised pork in soy sauce (Kong Tau Yew Bak)

Kong Tau Yew Bak (Braised Pork in Soy Sauce) is a well loved, very flavorful Hokkien (Fujianese) comfort food dish. Usually comes with hard boiled eggs.

Like all dishes, variations are bound to exist because cooking is a very individual thing. Some prefer their Kong Tau Yew Bak light and soupy like the Teochew version which usually comes with chunks of tofu. Here is grown up with a slightly sweet and syrupy Kong Tau Yew Bak. Eaten with a side of Sambal Belacan, it is out of this world delicious. Seriously, it is beautiful!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 bulb garlic (separated but not peeled)
1 tsp peppercorns cracked
2 cloves garlic, minced
700gr boneless pork ribs or pork shoulder, cut into bite size pieces
3 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
2 tsp sugar
180 ml water
½ tsp salt (or to taste)
4 hard boiled eggs (peeled)

Instructions:

Heat vegetable oil in a medium sized pot. Saute garlic cloves, cracked peppercorns, and minced garlic for 1 minute.
Add pork and fry to seal in the juices. This should take about 3 minutes.
Add sweet soy sauce, sugar, and water.
Bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add salt and hard boiled eggs. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Turn eggs occasional to coat evenly with soy sauce. Turn off stove.
Serve warm with steamed rice.