Suan Ni Bai Rou (Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce) is a dish that you might find in some restaurants. But it is something that even if it looks hard to make it isn’t necessarily difficult. It is a delicious way to upgrade your pork game and try different ways to make it. We are going to be using the poaching technique which is a simple and not time-consuming technique that allows your meat to be nice and juicy with lots of aromas.

There are many dishes that use these techniques and are very popular among the Chinese population. Some of those are poached chicken as well as poached salmon. Our main protein is going to be pork belly, you could choose to use it with or without the skin. However, the flavor and contexture won’t vary that much. Using pork belly assures you a softer result and juicier. And our garlic sauce which will be spicy and garlicky to make our pork game even stronger.

In order to poach our pork belly, we are going to use ginger, star anise, wine, scallions, and peppercorns. For the sauce, we will use garlic, ginger, scallion, red chili flakes, and peppercorn powder. As well we will be adding soy sauce, vinegar or Chinese black vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, some sliced cucumber, and some toasted sesame seeds.

1. Using a nice pot we are going to add our pork belly with 6 cups of water and the ginger, star anise, wine or Shaoxing wine, Sichuan peppercorns, and scallions. Let it boil and then let it simmer for another half hour. You can check and make sure your meat is nice and tender with a fork. Once it is, remove it from the fire and let it cool.
2. Remember to save some boiling water for the sauce. The sauce we are making by mixing all our ingredients, 10 cloves of garlic, ginger, scallion, chili flakes, and peppercorn powder. Add it in a nice pot and let it heat, adding the remaining ingredients, soy sauce, black vinegar and sugar, sesame oil and mix well.
3. Once it’s looking reddish from the red pepper flakes turn it off and let it chill.
4. To serve we are going to use the cucumber at Julienne. Place it nicely on the bottom of our plate, arrange your sliced pork belly. Add it to the plate. And just before serving pour some of the sauce and pork stock. Add some green part of scallops and sesame seed for garnishing and it is ready. Serve and enjoy this dish nice and warm.

This recipe is fun to make and you can use any type of protein for the base, chicken as well as salmon. There might be some changes in the process of making it, but it’s a nice way to try some other recipes as well. The pork belly is tender, juicy and the sauce just gives it that extra kick that will make this delicious. A Suan Ni Bai Rou (Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce) tasty dish that you will be looking for as a comfort food dish.