Braised Pork Belly with Coca-Cola

It's funny how our taste buds change as we get older. One significant change I could see for myself was that I started to appreciate some of the food items that I used to detest, for example - oranges. That's hard to believe I know, since oranges are well-loved by most people and they're also known to be loaded with lots of vitamin C. After distancing myself from the fruit for many years, I've slowly accept the taste and it has become one of regular items that can be found in my fridge.

Daikon is another one of the food items that I used to avoid as much as I could. There is an after-taste from the cooked daikon that would really put me off. But my taste preference has changed just recently. My brother brought me to a Japanese restaurant as my birthday treat. He convinced me to try a piece of daikon from oden (A stewed dish with other ingredients like fish cake, tofu and mushroom). And I was surprised that it tasted really good because it has absorbed the flavour from the soup. So I thought, well, daikon does not taste that bad after all!

During these last few days in Singapore, I'll maximise the opportunity to load up on pork dishes before I return to the place where I'll have a pork-free diet for the next 9 months. So today, I have decided to prepare a braised pork dish which includes my new-found love - daikon, carrot and Coca-cola. The pork was so tender and flavorful that I finished a big bowl of rice during lunch!

Braised Pork Belly with Coca-cola Recipe

Ingredients:
500g pork belly (with skin removed)
1 daikon, remove skin, chop into thick slices
1 carrot, remove skin, chop into thick slices
2 stalks of spring onions, cut into long strips
8 slices of ginger
5 garlic cloves, smashed
350ml Coca-cola
1000ml water

Seasoning:
50ml light soy sauce
100ml dark soy sauce
Pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons rice wine

Method:
1) Rinse the pork belly, then cut into slices with thickness of 2cm.
2) Boil the daikon in medium heat for 20 minutes. Dish up and set aside.
3) Heat up a wok, then add two tablespoons of oil. When the oil is heated, add ginger slices, spring onion and garlic cloves. Sautee until aromatic.
4) Add in pork slices, sautee for a while and then add the seasonings.
5) Transfer the ingredients to a clay pot (You can also use a medium pot), add coca-cola and water. Cover and bring to a boil.
6) Turn the heat to low, let it simmer for 30 minutes. Then add daikon and carrots, and simmer for another 30 minutes.
7) Turn off the heat. Still with cover on, let the braised pork rest for 15 minutes.
8) Dish up and garnish with some chopped spring onions. Serve.