TIGER BITES PIG

TIGER BITES PIG 

Serves 8–10

This dish is known as tiger bite pig because it looks as if the bread is chewing on a big piece of juicy pork. Besides this, it also looks like a wallet, and is taken to mean “rich” or “having a lot of money”. So let’s make it at home, eat a lot of it and hope for a prosperous year ahead! In recent years, there have been many different fillings created for this dish, including deep-fried chicken fillets, cod fish fillets and even beef to replace the original stewed pork belly. You can almost consider this dish the equivalent of a Taiwanese hamburger and the recipe below is the classic way to make this dish.

 Braised Pork Belly 

700 g (11 /2 lb) pork belly, cut into 1.5-cm (3/4-in) thick slices 

4 Tbsp light soy sauce 

1 tsp brown sugar 

2 Tbsp cooking oil 

2 spring onions, sliced 

40 g (11 /3 oz) garlic, peeled 

1 /2 red chilli, sliced 625 ml (20 fl oz / 21 /2 cups) water 

50 ml (12 /3 fl oz) rice wine 

1 tsp dark soy sauce 

10 g (1 /3 oz) rock sugar 

1 Tbsp thick soy sauce A pinch of ground white pepper 

Steamed Buns 

5 g (1 /6 oz) dried yeast 

1 tsp sugar 180 ml (6 fl oz / 3/4 cup) water 

100 g (3 1 /2 oz) plain flour 

150 g (51/3 oz) bread flour Cooking oil, as needed Garnish 

1 Tbsp peanut powder Castor sugar, to taste A handful of coriander leaves

1. Prepare the braised pork belly. Marinate the pork with 1 Tbsp soy sauce and brown sugar. Set aside for at least 30 minutes. 

2. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a wok over low heat. Add the pork and sear until golden brown on both sides. Remove and let cool. 

3. Heat the remaining 1 Tbsp oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the spring onions, garlic and chilli and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the pork and the rest of the ingredients for the braised pork. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for about 11 /2 hours until the pork is tender.

 4. Meanwhile, prepare the steamed buns. Mix the yeast and sugar with the water until dissolved. Add both types of flour and knead into a smooth dough. Cover the dough with a clean damp cloth or a sheet of plastic wrap and set aside for 30–40 minutes for the dough to rise. 

5. When the dough has risen, cut it into 70 g (21 /2 oz) portions. Form each portion into a ball. On a lightly floured work surface, flatten each ball into an oval using a rolling pin.

 6. Brush some oil over the flattened dough and drape each piece over the rolling pin to set the shape of the dough. 7. Place the dough into a large steamer and steam over high heat for 8–10 minutes. When done, the buns should spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. 

8. Mix the peanut powder with some sugar. To assemble the buns, place 1–2 slices of braised pork into each bun. Garnish with the sweetened peanut powder and coriander leaves. Serve immediately.

Note: For the garnishing, the traditional ratio of peanut powder to sugar is 4:1. For example, 100 g (31 /2 oz) peanut powder is usually mixed with 25 g (4/5 oz) sugar. However, you can adjust the proportion according to your taste.