Rough skin belly meat fried alongside boiled water spinach, crab soup, salted eggplant… create a simple and rustic meal but very delicious with the rustic flavor of the Northern countryside.
The stir-fried rough skin belly meat must have a beautiful crispy color, not black, the meat is soft and tender, not dry, and has a salty sweet and spicy taste. Especially, the aroma of the meat is not fishy but very inviting. However, many people do not have experience cooking stir-fried belly meat, so it often becomes dry, tough, not tender.
Here is the secret for you
Prepare ingredients
– Rough skin belly meat: 500 grams, note to choose fresh meat, evenly distributed with fat, lean meat, and skin, avoid using pieces of meat with loose fat and skin. Fresh meat should be pink, not watery, and when pressed, it should have good elasticity.
– Ginger: 1 small piece
– Spring onion: 2 stalks
– Salt
– Common spices: Cooking oil, fish sauce, sugar, salt, seasoning powder, black pepper, chili or chili sauce (if you like it spicy)
– Beer and shrimp paste (if you want a special and unique flavor)
Step 1: Prepare the rough skin belly meat
– Soak the belly meat in diluted saltwater for about 30 minutes to clean it. Then wash it thoroughly and slice it into bite-sized pieces. Avoid slicing it too thick, as it will be difficult to render the fat, and avoid slicing it too thin, as the meat will become dry. Whether to keep the skin or not is based on the preference of each family.
– Use caramelized sugar syrup, not burnt black sugar syrup, so that the meat will not be bitter. Many people do not make the sugar syrup separately but add the sugar directly when frying. However, in this case, the sugar often burns unevenly.
Step 2: First round of frying the meat
Add a little lard to a hot pan, then add the meat and fry it until it turns golden on one side before flipping it to the other side. The meat will release fat and turn golden.
To make delicious crispy stir-fried belly meat, it needs to be fried twice (two rounds of cooking). The first round is to render the fat, create a crispy texture, and the second round is to season the meat to taste.
– Add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil to a hot pan and spread the oil evenly on the pan surface to prevent the meat from sticking and burning.
– Avoid flipping the meat too many times, as it will become tough and overcooked, and the meat will become dry.
– When the meat is golden and crispy, drain the excess fat.
– Remove some of the fat from the pan and lower the heat.
Step 3: Second round of frying the meat
After removing some of the fat, add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of caramelized sugar syrup (using the remaining syrup), 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt, and mix evenly to marinate the meat. If you are not confident, you can pre-mix the seasoning mixture consisting of sugar, fish sauce, salt, and caramelized sugar syrup. When frying the meat, just pour it in once.
Adding a little beer to the meat while frying will make the meat tender, and adding a little crushed shrimp paste (using small-grained shrimp paste) when eating will create a new and unique flavor for this dish.
Note: Adding a little beer and stirring it evenly will make the meat tender and more appetizing.
– Then add dried shallots and stir evenly. Simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens, then add scallions cut into sections.
– At this point, you can sprinkle a little crushed shrimp paste, which will give your stir-fried belly meat a special and distinctive flavor.
Then transfer the meat to a plate, sprinkle with a little ground pepper and sliced chili if you like it spicy.
Note: Adding a little beer to the sauce when stir-frying the meat will create a special aroma and make the meat more tender. Adding a little crushed shrimp paste later will add an extra special fragrance to your stir-fried meat. You can also try adding shrimp paste to create a new and unique flavor for your stir-fried meat.
The stir-fried rough skin belly meat requires the meat to be evenly golden, not burnt, soft and tender, not dry or tough.
