Longan Sweet Shaobai
A sweet Sichuan dish: fatty pork belly is wrapped in jujube and red bean paste, rolled into longan shapes, and steamed atop a layer of brown sugar glutinous rice. The texture is sweet, fragrant, rich, and glutinous.
Ingredients
Pork fat belly (boiled and sliced)
500 g
Red dates (skin burnt, pitted, wrapped with sweet bean paste)
75 g
Sweet red bean paste (xisha)
50 g
Glutinous rice (washed and soaked)
100 g
Brown sugar
15 g
Lard
10 g
White sugar (for thickening sauce)
20 g
Wet starch
10 g
Instructions
1
Make Date Rolls
Roast the red dates over charcoal fire until the skin is slightly charred. Soak them in clean water for 20 minutes, then remove the skin and pits, and wrap each with a portion of sweet bean paste.
2
Shape the Rolls
Boil the pork fat belly until cooked, then remove and let cool. Cut it into slices about 7 cm long, 2 cm wide, and 0.3 cm thick. Wrap each slice around a date roll to form a cylinder, and stand them upright in a steaming bowl.
3
Steam the Dish
Wash and soak the glutinous rice, then steam it in a steamer until tender. Remove and mix with brown sugar and lard. Pack the seasoned rice into the steaming bowl around the pork rolls as a base, and steam until soft (about half an hour).
4
Finish with Sauce
In a wok, combine white sugar with a little water and thicken with wet starch to make a clear, glossy sauce. Remove the steamed shaobai from the bowl, invert it onto a round plate, and pour the sauce over the top to finish.
