White-Braised Eel Belly
A renowned Huaiyang dish made with eel belly meat, blanched and slow-braised in a clay pot until soft and tender.
Ingredients
cooked eel belly meat
500 g
Shaoxing wine
10 g
light soy sauce
20 g
MSG
0.25 g
white pepper powder
0.5 g
wet starch slurry
15 g
shrimp roe
0.25 g
refined salt
5 g
aromatic vinegar
2 g
garlic cloves
200 g
chicken broth
500 g
cooked lard
150 g
Instructions
1
Step 1
Cut the cooked eel belly meat into segments about 7.5 cm long and wash them clean. Place them in a pot of boiling water to blanch briefly, then remove and drain off all the moisture.
2
Step 2
Place a wok over high heat until hot, add the cooked lard, and heat it to about 60% hot. Add the garlic cloves and fry briefly, then take the wok off the heat, cover, and let it steep for around 3 minutes before removing the garlic.
3
Step 3
Pour the hot oil from the wok into a clay pot lined with a bamboo mat at the bottom. Add the eel meat, aromatic vinegar, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, refined salt, shrimp roe, and chicken broth. Cover the pot, bring it to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a low heat and simmer for about 1 hour.
4
Step 4
Add the reserved garlic cloves and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the bamboo mat, stir in the MSG, thicken with the wet starch slurry, bring back to a boil, remove from the heat, sprinkle with white pepper powder, and serve.
