Braised Pork Belly with Eggs and Pork Tripe

I usually don't blog much on daily home cooking as it is a daily routine. Today is just one of the rare occassion where I will just blog about this particular dish that I prepared for dinner the other day. It is a special request from dear hubby for me to jot down the ingredients used in this dish as he like it so much. I have no prior intention to write about this, so I did not think of snapping a picture of it. The only picture I have is when we were half way eating it. So, it doesn't look so enticing. Nevertheless, don't let the picture fool you. When dear hubby open the door, the first thing he asked me is "What did you cook today? It smells so nice." He can even smell it before he entered the house. He told me that he was actually not very hungry. In fact, he was quite full. But he can't stop eating as it is so appetising. He even thought of having a second serving of rice. But too bad I don't have extra rice. I never prepare extra rice or dishes as I do not like leftovers. I know how much my family can eat, so I will prepare just enough to feed everyone without any leftovers.

For this dish, I use 1/2 pig trip, roughly 300g pork belly and 7 hard-boiled eggs. The pig tripe has been cleaned earlier. So, it saved up a lot of my time. I marinated the pig tripe and pork belly with salt, sesame oil, Chinese rice wine, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and 5 spice powder for roughly one hour. Then, I seared the pork belly and pig trip with some oil in the wok. The marinates were set aside for later use. Without removing the seared belly and tripe, I added in 4 cloves of lightly crushed garlic, 2 star anise and 1 bark of cinnamon stick as well as some dangui.  Then the hard-boiled eggs were added in. For better flavour, I slit each of the eggs half-way into a cross. When they are ready, the top will open up like flower and they are more flavourful. This is a method used by mum. After stirring for a while, I poured in the saved marinates. Then I added in sugar to taste and water enough to cover all the ingredients. I let it come to a boil and then cover with a lid. It should be braised for 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the pig tripe to be tender. I added water few times and continue to braise till the pig tripe is tender. Then I cooked till the gravy is reduced and look caramelised. These are simply yummy when served with a plate of steaming hot rice.