Hakka pork belly with yam. Note how the yam is placed alternately in between each slice of pork. — Photos: TIMOTHY FOONG
The Cantonese know this dish as wu tao cow yoke whereas the Hakkas call it q-nguik.
My late uncle and my dad used to prepare many portions of q-nguik (yam with pork belly) every Chinese New Year. The preparations would start from early morning and would last till late night.
My house in my hometown Seremban, Negri Sembilan, was a huge, split-level house with six rooms. We had three woodfire stoves – two for normal cooking and one with a huge wok. We also had another two charcoal stoves and a gas stove. Imagine all the stoves being used to prepare q-nguik all at once! The kitchen was really busy those days.
However, nothing was recorded in a recipe book. Everything they knew was in their heads and they remembered every step.
Before I went off to university, I took some time during Chinese New Year to document all the details and wrote down their secret recipes. This was some four decades ago. I guess they are not secret anymore today as I firmly believe in sharing whatever knowledge I’ve gained. — Contributed by TIMOTHY FOONG
Preparing the pork belly and yam.
Pork belly with yam
Ingredients
8kg 3-layered pork belly (fa nguik)
5 tablespoons thick caramel black soy sauce
3 small packets (20g each) five-spice powder
1.5kg shallots
100g garlic
4 tablespoons of oyster sauce (optional)
3 bottles (250g each) of fermented bean curd (nam yee)
400g sugar
1/2 bottle rice wine (If unavailable, use Shaoxing Chinese cooking wine.)
1 tablespoon fermented yellow soy bean paste (taucu)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
Fat-fry the pork, in other words, submerge the meat fully in oil.
Method
1. Cut the pork belly into large rectangular pieces of approximately 8cm x 15cm, and boil in hot water for 15 minutes until firm. If you’re cooking half the portion, adjust the recipe accordingly.
2. Poke holes in the meat and remove the hair from the skin.
3. Mix the thick soy sauce together with 1 packet of five-spice powder and Chinese wine, and marinate the meat with this paste.
4. After two hours, deep fat-fry the meat until you see the skin bubble up. Remove from oil and soak in cold water for 40 minutes.
5. Fry the sliced yam until slightly brown.
6. Prepare the marinade by blending the shallots and garlic. Add the rest of the five-spice powder, nam yu, oyster sauce, pepper, sugar, rice wine, taucu and light soy sauce. Adjust to taste accordingly.
7. Cut the meat into 1cm slices and mix in the marinade.
8. Stack the meat and yam alternately in a bowl and steam for 2 hours.
9. To serve, put a plate over the bowl, turn it over and voila! You get a sandwich block of yam and meat!
