Taiwanese Lu Rou Fan Rice Bowl
Lu Rou Fan — melt-in-your-mouth braised pork belly in a luscious, glossy sauce over rice. The shallots are deep-fried in fat rendered from the pork belly, so the finished dish isn't oily at all. Makes a big batch that freezes well and reheats beautifully.
⏱️ Prep: 30 min🍳 Cook: 90 min
Nutrition
per 300 g assembled bowl700
Calories
18g
Protein
55g
Carbs
42g
Fat
Ingredients
| 1134 g (2.5 lb) | Skin-on pork belly |
| 24 g (~8 cloves) | Garlic, peeled |
| 24 g (~8 slices) | Ginger slices |
| 0.8 g (~1) | Star anise |
| 2.5 g (~1) | Cinnamon stick |
| 0.6 g (~3) | Bay leaves |
| 70 g (⅓ cup) | Rock sugar |
| 116 g (7 Tbsp) | Soy sauce |
| 16.6 g (1 Tbsp) | Dark soy sauce |
| 224 g (1 cup) | Shaoxing cooking wine |
| 2.4 g (1 tsp) | Ground white pepper |
| 2 g (1 tsp) | Five-spice powder |
| 720 g (3 cups) | Water |
| 15 g (2 Tbsp) | Dried shrimp (optional) |
| 270 g (~6) | Shallots, thinly sliced |
| 73 g (⅓ cup) | Pork fat (rendered from the belly) |
| 5 | Soft-boiled eggs, to serve (optional) |
| 150 g (~5) | Baby bok choy, blanched, to serve (optional) |
Instructions
- Soak the dried shrimp in hot water for 30 minutes.
- Cut the skin-on pork belly into ⅓-inch thick slabs, then dice into ⅓-inch pieces.
👨🍳 Chef's Secret: Pork skin is essential — it's full of gelatin, which makes the sauce thick, shiny, and flavorful.
- Preheat a heavy pot (clay pot, Dutch oven, or cast-iron) over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the pork with no oil and stir over medium-high. It releases juice that evaporates in a few minutes; once the fat starts rendering, keep stirring until you get about ⅓ cup of pork fat (10–15 minutes).
- Tilt the pot, take the rendered fat out into a saucepan, and reserve it.
- Add the garlic, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and rock sugar to the pork. Stir until fragrant.
- Add the rest of the seasonings: light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, white pepper, and five-spice powder. Stir well, deglazing all the brown bits at the bottom.
- Pour in 3 cups hot water and simmer on low for 1.5 hours. Top up with hot (never cold) water if it reduces too much.
- While the pork simmers, thinly slice the shallots and mince the soaked shrimp.
- Fry the shallots in the reserved pork fat over medium-low until lightly golden, about 10–12 minutes. The oil may foam — that's normal.
- Add the minced dried shrimp and fry 2 more minutes, until the shallots are golden brown.
- Drain the oil with a sieve (reserve it for other uses if you like).
- At about the 30-minute mark of simmering, add the fried shallots and shrimp to the pot and cook with the pork for the remaining hour.
- When done, remove and discard the whole spices (ginger slices, star anise, cinnamon stick, bay leaves).
- Check the sauce — it should be thick, sticky, and saucy. Reduce over high heat if thin; add a little hot water if too thick.
- Scoop over white rice. Serve with soft-boiled eggs and blanched baby bok choy.
Ingredient Tips
- Rock sugar (冰糖) is refined and re-crystallized from granulated sugar and can be replaced by the same amount of granulated sugar. It won't affect the taste that much.
- Dried shrimp (干虾仁) is optional, but it adds a third dimension to the dish, making the fragrance more complex and pungent. If you don't have it, try adding a few anchovy fillets while simmering the pork.
- Any brand of soy sauce and dark soy sauce will work. However, since this is a Taiwanese dish, the Taiwanese Kim Lam brand is recommended.
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