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Close-up of a spoonful of braised pork shoulder with carrot and coriander.
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5 from 44 votes

Tau Yew Bak (Braised Pork in Soy Sauce)

A super easy recipe to make for a weekday dinner after work, this braised pork dish is a delicious comfort food that doesn't require much prep time.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese, Nyonya, peranakan, singaporean
Servings: 2 people (with rice and other dishes)
Calories: 456kcal
Author: Zen

Equipment

  • Pot

Ingredients

  • 0.55 lb pork (250g) (8.81 oz) Cut the pork into small pieces, about twice the thickness of your little finger Traditionally pork belly but I find that too oily. You can mix with pork shoulder butt for a great combination of fat and lean meat or use 100% pork butt.
  • Tablespoon light soy sauce
  • Tablespoon dark soy sauce If you like your food on the sweeter side, you can use kicap manis instead of dark soy sauce.
  • ¼ T 5 spice powder Substitute: spices such as cinnamon stick, star anise and peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar or to taste.
  • Oil About 1 Tablespoon or to taste. Substitute: lard
  • 1 bulb garlic peeled and minced
  • Water Enough to just about cover the meat in the pan. Substitute: pork stock
  • Salt to taste
  • white granulated sugar optional seasoning, to taste Substitute: rock sugar
  • Hard boiled eggs/ firm tofu/ cooked peanuts/ dried shiitake mushrooms/ carrots Optional
  • Coriander leaves Optional garnish, rough chop
  • Sambal belacan chilli Optional

Instructions

  • 15 minutes before you want to cook, add both soy sauces, the white sugar and the 5-spice powder to the pork. Mix well and leave covered on the counter to come to room temperature.
  • In the meantime, mince up your garlic.
  • Heat your pot over low-medium heat, then add some vegetable oil or lard. When the oil is shimmering, add the garlic and stir fry till fragrant.
    Tip: If you have whole spices such as star anise, white peppercorns and cassia cinnamon, you can crush them then add and stir fry in the oil for a more aromatic dish.
  • Increase the heat to medium then add the pork and lightly brown the pieces. It should caramelise nicely thanks to the sugar and dark soy added!
    Note: Reduce the heat to low if using pork belly. If not, your dish will be super oily!
  • Add enough water (or pork stock) to cover the pork then cover and simmer for 40-60 minutes, or till the pork is soft, cooked and you get a nice syrupy sauce.
    Remember to top up the water if the pan is drying out!
    Tip: Don't add too much water at first or you may be braising for ever. You may also need to top up some extra water if your pan gets dry.
  • If including hard boiled eggs/ tofu/ carrots to bulk up the dish, add them in during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. (You can actually add the other ingredients earlier if you want their flavour to be more concentrated, however this will give you overcooked eggs with the tell-tale green rim around the powdery yolks)
  • At the same time, taste and season the stew (salt and maybe more sugar- will depend on the dark soy you use) accordingly to taste then serve with a bowl of piping hot white rice.

Notes

Here's a recipe for homemade 5-spice powder
If adding dried shiitake mushrooms to your loh bak, add 1 or 2 pieces at the most as the mushroom flavour can overpower the other ingredients.
 
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its accuracy. 

Nutrition

Calories: 456kcal | Carbohydrates: 98g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 1031mg | Potassium: 896mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 3286IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 1252mg | Iron: 45mg