Garlic-Black Beans Pork

I was wondering to do different with a slab of pork belly. I could always impose an adobo on it but where's the fun in that? So a quick scan among my posse of oriental cookbooks yielded this very easy stew. The ingredients are easy to source, too. Nothing exotic nothing out of the ordinary but resulted in a very good and tasty pork stew great with steamed rice. This is adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly's Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook.


Garlic-Black Beans Pork

750 g  pork belly - chopped in serving-size pieces
1 Tbsp fermented black beans - roughly chopped
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 1/2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp grated ginger
2 Tbsp oil
2 tsp cornflour
2 tsp cooking wine
2 Tbsp water

1. (Optional) Heat the oil in a pot or wok and brown the pork pieces for a few minutes.
2. Combine pork, black beans, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce in a pot.
3. Pour enough water to cover the pork.
4. Bring to boil then lower heat and simmer for about 1 hour 10 minutes or until meat is tender.
5. Add a little hot water from time to time if it is drying up too much. But at the end of the cooking there should be only a little sauce left.
6. Combine cornflour, wine and water. Stir into the pot and simmer until sauce thickens - about 1 minute. Remove from heat and serve.