Updated: June 21st 2021

How time flies! I have cooked this dish many times since it was first published in 2015. It was always at the request of EK or the children. It is one of the most requested dish these days when the girls visit. I cooked it again this weekend and managed to capture the key steps with photos. Updated the measurements to make it a little sweeter.

First Published: Jan 27th 2015

This is one of the dishes from my god sister that I cherish a lot. The best part of this dish is the sauce. If there is any leftover the next day, I liked to dip plain, white bread in it for breakfast. Wierd? Try that, I love it so much. This is an attempt to capture the measurements of all the ingredients that goes into recreating the dish. It is close enough, and I will continue to refine the recipe as I practice this dish in the future.

Ingredients

• 1 lb pork shoulder, cut into bite size pieces
• 4 hard boiled eggs, shelled
• 20 pieces fried bean curd (油豆泡)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cloves garlic, lightly bashed
• 2 star anise
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 8 oz boiling water
• 2 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Rinse fried bean curd in hot water, drain and squeeze out excess water, set aside.
2. Heat sugar in wok over medium high heat till the sugar starts to caramelize.
3. Add garlic, cinnamon stick, star anise, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water. Bring to a boil.
4. Add the pork and cook briskly for 10 minutes until the pork is well done. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
5. Add the eggs and let it simmer for another 20 minutes at low heat, covered.
6. Add the fried bean curd and leave it to simmer for another 10 minutes.
7. Serve hot.

Note: I like the eggs browned. Cook it a day ahead. This gives the eggs more time to soak in all the goodness from the sauce and develop the desired color and flavor.