Simple chinese cooking

(Braised pork)
I went to a Chinese restaurant in Newcastle with my flatmate the other day; it is called King Neptu which is also a reward winning restaurant. Actually it is a special restaurant for seafood from the Chinese name, but when I got the Chinese menu them it looks like a fast-food restaurant to me, dishes are all not special form a Chinese people’s view, but still many local people go there. I start to worry about that if people had the ‘real’ Chinese dishes, will they still like them. I notice that people really like sweet and sour, especially sweet. That reminds me of a very nice dish with a very nice sweet taste.
It is called “braised pork” which is Chairman Mao’s favourite dish. By the way tell you some stories about Chairman Mao and his hometown
”…… To Chinese people, Hunan is synonymous with Mao Zedong, as it was his home province. Mao set the course of China's modern history, and his memory is still revered across the nation. Even today, it is from Beijing to Chang sha, capital of Hunan Province, rather than to the more prosperous Shanghai or Shenzhen, that the No. 1 train travels.
Apart from Chairman Mao, Hunan is also known for its passionate women and spicy dishes. Local residents believe these three factors have nexus. Mao is quoted as saying: "Those who cannot endure hot food are unable to persevere in the revolution." Mao's first wife, Yang Kaihui, also a Hunan native, was seized and killed by the Kuomintang when she refused to betray her husband. Mao mourned her in a poem widely read and quoted in the 60s and 70s.

A Hot Tourist Destination
The mountain village of Shaoshan where Mao was born is some 100 kilometres from Chang sha. When Mao left his home for the city and took up higher education 90 years ago, the journey took him several days on foot. Today, thanks to an extensive highway network in the province, it is a one-hour drive.
On the grand occasion of Mao's birthday, this small hamlet heaves with tourists, and there was a rattle of firecrackers resounds throughout the day. There is nothing extraordinary about Mao's former residence, as regards size or architecture, but to the Chinese people, visiting it is a pilgrimage rather than a sight-seeing trip.
Not far from the house is the famous Mao Restaurant whose specialty is the late Chairman's favourite dish -- braised pork. The propriety, 75-year-old Tang Ruiren, is a daughter-in-law of the Mao family. Her restaurant has brought her fame and fortune to the extent that she owns three cars.
The Mao Restaurant buzzes with chat and the clink of glasses on this celebratory day, and a local opera company performs to wish customers happiness and prosperity. On the door hangs a placard advertising more for more partners in the highly successful 24-hour a restaurant chain established in Beijing and other major cities in China. This former political sanctum is now an economic dynamo.
The growing awareness of the market economy among local people is also apparent in the adjacent Mao Zedong Memorial Par. Parks commemorating historic personages are generally built by the government. This park was, however, a joint venture co-founded by Mao's village, the Mao Restaurant and the Huang gang Goods and Materials Administration. The investment was recouped after 7 years.
Hunan is also the hometown of many other distinguished personages in Chinese history, such as Liu Shaoqi, late chairman of the People’s Republic of China, and Zeng Guofan, senior Qing official who used Western technology to build China's first modern dockyards and arsenals. The province also abounds with beautiful forests and mountains, and is home to several ethnic groups. The province's rich tourism resources have been of great benefit to its inhabitants.
Zhangjiajie is a world natural heritage site famous for its peaks and valleys covered in lush forests, as well as its wide choice of hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops built by local farmers under government supervision. The Baizhangxia (one-hundred-zhang canyon -- 1 zhang about 3 meters) Hotel has 200 standard rooms with a full range of facilities and services. Its proprietor, Qu Meiyun, formerly a worker in the local forest park, now has assets of ten-million-yuan……”
Let’s go back to our original topic, how to make the ‘braised pork’
Have a look at those photos, it is very important to choose a piece of fatty fillet pork with some fat (do not worry about the diet).

Cut the pork into small cubes (as showing in the photo), Wash it a couple of times and boil for 5mins, drain and cool them down, then fry them for 3mins in a big wok or big pan with vegetable oil(make sure the amount of the oil is enough to cover all the pork cubes). Put 2 table spoons of …sugar (for 400 g pork, the amount of sugar is very important for this dish, it could enhance the flavour), 2 table spoons of light Soya sauce for adding colour and some more flavour for the dish. It is perfect if you can add 2 tea spoons cooking wine, but if you do not have you can use normal wine instead. Stir gently, until they are all well mixed, then put some spring onion in( one brunch should be enough),add enough water which would be enough for braising the pork for at least 1 and 30 hour, there is no good adding water again.The strength of the heat should be controlled to middle or small.






Braise them till there is not any juice left. Now you can put them in a plate and top with some coriander and spring onion to garnish. It is always hard to know that when the pork is ready to serve, here is a hint, when the fork could go through the pork cube very easy and it is just tender than ever. The skin and the fat under the skin should test like a jelly. Emmm , nice…..