steamed pork belly in black bean sauce

Steamed pork belly in black bean sauce (豉汁蒸腩肉) is a flavourful dish that takes less than 30 minutes to cook and pairs so well with rice. It is a popular dim sum dish that you will definitely see in every dim sum-style restaurant. The pork is juicy, tender and flavourful covered in a rich and savoury sauce.

Traditionally, this recipe uses pork spare ribs. However, it may be hard to find pork ribs that are already cut into small pieces in UK supermarkets. You could ask your local butcher to chop up the ribs for you, or chop it yourself with a good cleaver. But for the sake of convenience, I decided to use pork belly for this recipe. It doesn’t make a huge difference, but you might want to choose a less fatty cut, depending on your preference!

In dim sum restaurants, steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce are served in small dim sum plates steamed with a bamboo steamer. Or you could order main dish, which comes with rice and cooked using a clay pot. The ones served as a dim sum also sometimes come with chopped pumpkin, taro or fried tofu layered beneath the pork!

ingredients for making steamed pork belly in black bean sauce:

• 350g pork belly
• 10 pieces deep fried tofu puffs, cut in half (optional)
• 1 scallion, green part for garnish

marinade:

• 3-4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 chilli pepper, finely chopped (optional)
• 1 tbsp salted fermented black beans
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/5 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch

substitute for deep-fried tofu puffs:

• You can cook this dish as it is without adding extra ingredients, but personally I love to add deep-fried tofu or pumpkin chunks to steam along with the pork, as it tastes really good when the vegetables absorb the sauce throughout the steaming process.
• Deep-fried tofu puffs are optional. But if you want, you can substitute it with firm tofu chunks.
• You can also use taro or pumpkin chunks.

substitute for black bean:

• If you really cannot find Chinese fermented black beans, you can use premade black bean sauce. But I just want to point out that it tastes a lot better if you used fermented black beans!

steps:

prepare ingredients:

1. Briefly rinse and chop the fermented black beans.
2. Cut the pork belly into chunks (about 1 inch thick).
3. Finely chop your garlic cloves, chilli, and green onion.
4. Rinse the deep-fried tofu and squeeze excess water out. Cut them in half using scissors.

marinade the pork:

1. In a large bowl, add the pork belly chunks and the rest of the marinade ingredients. Mix well and massage the marinade well with your hands. Massage for about 30 seconds.
2. Marinate for 15 mins.

steam the pork belly:

1. Put a layer of deep-fried tofu on a plate (skin side facing down).
2. Put the marinated pork on top and spread evenly.
3. Steam for 20 mins over high heat.

tips:

1. When marinating the pork, first mix in the sauces and seasoning so that it can penetrate into the meat. Then add cornstarch, and lastly sesame oil. The cornstarch helps to tenderize the pork and thicken then sauce. And we put the oil last to bind all the other ingredients into the marinade so that it absorbs better.
2. Before steaming, make sure the pork is spread out on a plate so that it can cook more evenly.
3. This dish goes very well with rice, so make sure to prepare some hot white rice whilst you wait for the pork to steam!

more pork recipes:

• Hakka-style pan-fried meatballs
• Stir-fried eggplant with minced pork
• Shang Hai stir-fried rice cakes

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj7ueeAj5UG/

*This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I can earn from qualifying purchases. However, there is no additional cost to you. When you make a purchase through my referral links, I may earn a small commission from Amazon and other retailers.