Lu Rou Fan, Braised Pork & Eggs

📝 Ingredients

• 400 g minced pork, 15% fat
• 4 shallots (about 30 g each)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 4 tbsp soy sauce (60 ml)
• 20 g caster sugar
• ½ tsp Chinese five-spice
• 400 ml water (for braising)
• 4 eggs
• 300 g jasmine rice + 450 ml water
• 2 pak choi (about 200 g each)

🍴 Utensils

• Sauté pan with lid
• Saucepan with lid
• Small saucepan
• Colander
• Wooden spoon
• Chopping board and knife

📖 Steps

1. Bring the small saucepan of water to the boil, gently lower in the eggs with a spoon and cook for 9 min. Plunge them into a bowl of very cold water for 5 min, then peel carefully: they need to be smooth to take on the colour of the sauce evenly.
2. Peel the shallots and slice them into thin, even rings; chop the garlic. Heat the oil in the sauté pan over a medium heat and fry the shallots for 6 to 8 min, stirring often, until golden brown. Keep an eye on them at the end: they burn quickly.
3. Turn the heat up to high and add the minced pork and garlic. Break up the meat with the wooden spoon and cook for 5 to 6 min, until it is no longer pink and starts to brown lightly.
4. Add the soy sauce, sugar, five-spice and the 400 ml water. Bring to the boil, then add the peeled eggs to the sauce. Reduce to a low heat and simmer for 35 min with the lid ajar, turning the eggs every 10 min.
5. Meanwhile, rinse the rice in the sieve until the water runs almost clear. Put it in the saucepan with 450 ml water, bring to the boil, cover and cook for 12 min over a very low heat. Leave to stand for 10 min off the heat without lifting the lid.
6. The pork is ready when the sauce has reduced by two thirds, is glossy and syrupy, and the eggs are a deep brown. If it's still too runny, remove the lid and reduce for another 5 min over a medium heat.
7. Bring the small saucepan of water back to the boil. Quarter the pak choi lengthways and rinse between the leaves. Blanch them in the boiling water for 2 min, in two batches if needed, until the stalks are tender but still crunchy, then drain.
8. Divide the rice between bowls, spoon over the braised pork and its sauce, then add an egg cut in half and the pak choi. Drizzle a spoonful of sauce over the greens and serve piping hot.