Braised Pork Rice

Made this specially for hubbs... since he loves pork belly meat! Quite a successful first attempt on the whole, but was not satisfied with the texture of the meat, it wasn't soft enough. With some tips from mum, perhaps I should skip the "blanching in water" part and directly braise the raw meat in the sauce. But glad that hubbs enjoyed it... motivation for me to try again next time! :)

mum says everything looks soooo dark!

Braised Pork Rice (Taiwan style?)
Adapted from: happyhomebaking

Ingredients: (serves 2)
10 shallots
2 eggs
5 dried shitake mushrooms (sliced)
10g dried shrimps
250g pork belly
1 thumb size old ginger (about 5g) (minced)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1tbsp oil
1tsp five spice powder
1tbsp Hua Tiao wine
3tbsp fried shallots*
1tbsp light soya sauce
1tbsp dark soya sauce
3tbsp fine sugar
1/4tsp salt
some water

Directions:
*to make fried shallots, peel about 10 shallots, cut into thin slices. Pan fry with oil until golden (turn off the heat once the shallots turn golden, it gets burnt easily). Drain on paper towel and leave to cool. Reserve the oil. Alternatively, you can use ready made fried shallots.
1. Place eggs (use room temperature eggs, cold eggs may crack easily upon boiling) in a pot and fill with enough water to cover the eggs, add a pinch of salt (to prevent eggs from cracking). Boil for about 10mins. Remove from pot and place eggs in cold water(easier to peel the shells). Peel and remove the shells. Set aside.
2. Wash dried mushrooms, soak in warm water for 30mins. Drain and cut into slices. Reserve the water.
3. Wash dries shrimps, soak in water for 30mins or until soften. Drain and minced.
4. Wash and cut pork belly into 1 cm cubes. Blanch in boiling water for about 3 mins. Rinse the blanched pork belly, drain and set aside.
5. Heat oil (reserved from frying shallots) in a wok. Stir fry minced ginger, garlic and dried shrimps till fragrant. Add in five spice powder, stir fry till fragrant. Add in blanched pork belly, stir fry till browned. Add mushrooms, toss to combine. Add wine by pouring it over the side of the wok, toss to combine. Add in fried shallots, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, sugar, toss and stir fry to combine. Add the reserved water from soaking the mushrooms. Top with more water until it covers all the ingredients. Bring to a boil.
6. Transfer everything to a claypot or casserole (note: the water level should be over the ingredients by at least 2 inches). Add in the hard boiled eggs. Cover with lid and leave to simmer for about 1.5hrs (turn the eggs around in between the cooking time). Add in salt and continue to simmer for another 10mins. Taste and add additional seasoning to suit your taste.
7. Remove from heat. There should still be some sauce remaining when the dish is done, the sauce will appear glossy and thickened (from the fat of the pork belly).
8. Serve with rice and blanched xiao bai cai.