Taro and pork belly, steamed and turned out

Ingredientsserves 8

Equipment

• A bowl, a plate and a steamer
• A wok, and a pot lid to hold as a shield: the skin spits the moment it goes into the oil, so keep the lid where you can reach it

How the time splits

1. 10 minBlanch the bellyhands off
2. 30 minColour, fry the skin, fry the taro, slice, pack the bowlhands on
3. 1 hrIn the steamerhands off
4. 5 minTurn it outhands on

Method

1. Simmer the whole belly with the ginger and spring onion for ten minutes, cool it in iced water and dry it hard — one drop of water on that skin and it will spit. Paint the skin with dark soy.
2. Heat oil in the wok, lay the pork in skin down and get the lid over it at once, and fry until the skin blisters. Lift it out, dry it again and cut it into 1 cm slices.
3. In the same wok, fry the taro slices until the edges are golden on both sides. They do not need to cook through.
4. Mix the 南乳, rock sugar, both soys, the rose wine, the cornflour and four tablespoons of water into a sauce, and turn the pork and the taro through it separately.
5. Pack the bowl: skin down, a slice of pork then a slice of taro, alternating and pressed tight against the side of the bowl in a fan. Packed tight is what lets it turn out. Pour the rest of the sauce over.
6. Steam for an hour, until a spoon goes through the taro. Thinner slices want an hour and a half to two hours — the taro decides, not the clock.
7. Invert the bowl onto the plate, wait a moment, and lift it off.

Take care

• Pork, soy, wheat, alcohol. Raw taro irritates some people's skin: peel it in gloves or under water. Dry the skin and hold the lid as a shield before the pork goes in: the oil comes up out of the wok, and your hands and forearms are what it reaches.

The story

The Hakka and Guangxi cousin of 梅菜扣肉, with taro under the belly instead of greens — on the 圍村 reunion table and in every Hakka restaurant. It is the dish on this wall that leans hardest on the word 扣: the fan of alternating slices is the whole appearance of it, and the moment you turn the bowl out is not decoration but the point. The thickness and the steam have to agree. Finger-thick slices want an hour and thin ones want two; cut them thin and steam them two hours anyway and the fan collapses.

Same kind

Pork hock braised with dried oysters and peanutsPoon choi, the walled-village basinDried oysters braised with shiitake, the 好市 dish

Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.