🍽️ Mei Cai Braised Pork

Pork belly steamed with preserved mustard greens, savory and rich.

Steamed pork belly with preserved mustard greens, or mei cai kou rou, is the classic steamed dish of Hakka cuisine and a fixture in Meizhou homes. Pork belly with layered fat and lean is first boiled then fried, cut into thick slices, skin-side down arranged in a bowl, topped with sun-dried preserved mustard greens seasoned with soy, rock sugar and red bean curd, and steamed for a long time until the fat renders away. Plates are inverted at the table, so the glossy, reddish skin sits on top, tender enough to part with chopsticks, while the greens have absorbed all the pork oil, savory and faintly sweet. Rich but not cloying, with the aroma of preserved greens penetrating the meat, it is a finale dish at Hakka banquets and a reliable rice-filler. In Meizhou, people make preserved greens in winter and steam kou rou at festivals, and the dish is often vacuum-packed as a Hakka souvenir.