The times where I really miss home, I like to make myself a comforting bowl of Taiwanese minced pork. What’s great is that there is flexibility in what you serve it on (traditionally it’s on rice but I topped udon with it), and even what’s inside; for my minced pork, I’ve taken advantage of the incredible produce in SF and made it my own, and you can too!

Prep time: ~15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 30 min, mostly stewing so you’re not doing much
Commitment rating (time + money): Low

Ingredients

• 1 pound, ground pork
• 1 tsp of vegetable or grapeseed oil
• 2 cup of carrots, diced
• 1/2 cup of onion, diced
• 1/2 cup of mushrooms (can be of your choosing), sliced
• 2 cup broth
• 2 tbsp shaoxing wine
• 1/2 cup soy sauce paste
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar or honey
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 star anise
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup scallion, chopped
• 1/2 cup of fried shallots

Directions

1. In a medium-sized pot, add cooking oil and ground pork into high heat. Stir and break out the pork into small pieces.
2. Quickly add the diced onion to briefly sauté with ground pork. The ground pork should start looking brown after a few minutes.
3. Add in carrots, mushroom, broth, cooking wine, soy sauce paste, soy sauce, sugar/honey, black pepper, star anise, five spice powder, fried shallots (3/4 of the amount). Bring this mixture to a boil, and then turn the heat to low. Stir occasionally (every ~20-30 minutes).
4. Prepare the rice or noodles
5. To serve, fill a bowl with rice/noodles and top it with the minced pork, leftover fried shallots, scallions, and cilantro.

Enjoy, and hope your tummy feels as comforted as your heart!