Braised Soy Sauce Pork Belly

Gan is a very honest critic of my food and he's not afraid to offend me when he comments on my cooking. That's why I was very happy when he told me that this is the best soy sauce pork belly dish I have ever cooked. :) It's a simple dish, and here's the recipe:

To add more flavors to the pork bellies, I marinated them with soy sauce and dark (sweet) soy sauce the night before. I seared the bellies with some sesame oil, and once the bellies turned golden brown, I braised them for about 2 hours with just enough water, more soy sauce, dark sweet soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, some Shaoxing wine (made from glutinous rice and wheat) , one whole garlic, and some ginger slices. I've also added two hard-boiled eggs specially for Gan.

I served the pork bellies over rice. A simple dinner, done.

Gan: This is one of my favorite dish. I'm not too sure what's the origin of the dish but it could've been from the Fujian (Hokkien) region in China (my ancestry). Even Japanese have something similar to this Oh Tau Yiu Bak (black soy sauce pork belly in Hokkien) called Buta Kakuni (popular in the Okinawan region). Sarah has been trying to perfect this dish for some time now.. It's usually good but I think the vinegar and Shaoxing wine really did it this time and brought everything together. It's aromatic, tender, and just plain yummy. I was happy! The hard boiled eggs were mmm.. mmm.. good!