Grammy's Kitchen
← All recipes

Braised Pork Cubes with Tofu Puffs

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs pork butt
  • 2 scallions and 2 thick pieces of ginger
  • 1 Tbsp oil
  • 1/2 cup dry sherry
  • 4 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 c chicken broth (can substitute water)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • ~12 Chinese black mushrooms (rinse and soak in hot water; cut large mushrooms in half)
  • ~12 soy puffs (boiled in water for 2 minutes and drained)

Instructions

  1. 1

    Examine the pork piece and see if it needs to be trimmed of some extra visible fat. You want to leave some marbled fat to make the meat more tender after cooking. You then cut the meat into about 1 inch square pieces.

Cooking

  1. 1

    Heat oil in large non stick pan. Add ginger and cut scallion. Brown the pork cubes. (If there is lots of excess fat, drain before continuing. ~1/4 – ½ cup is okay.)

  2. 2

    Add soy, salt, sherry and also 1 cup of water or chicken broth (more flavorful than water). Cover and simmer about half an hour.

  3. 3

    Add soaked mushrooms and prepared soy puffs and sugar. Cover and simmer another half hour.

  4. 4

    Adjust taste to see if you need more salt. Check to see if pork pieces are just soft enough to eat. You add a very small amount of sesame oil before serving. If too much gravy you can reduce a bit with high heat. Be careful not to burn dry!

Notes

This is a very basic slow cooking for beef or chicken with soy sauce. It is a common cooking style in Eastern regions like Shanghai and Soochow. You can cook ahead and reheat.

The daikons

Peel and cut whatever shape you like. Sauté with a little oil. Add some salt and simmer with some added water. The secret is I added some gravy from the pork. You can also use nappa cabbage for the pork. Onion and carrots for the beef. This style of cooking is opposite to quick Cantonese style. Both are good.