Hot pork belly with aromatic sticky rice and gingered veggies

Portions:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the rice:

For the hot pork:

300 to 350 grams of pork belly with rind, cut into large chunks; keep these chunks fairly large (I keep them strips of 1 inch X 5 inches each) while boiling and cut into smaller pieces as desired once boiled.
2 cup of water
1/4 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of grated ginger
1 tbsp of fish sauce as a part of the boiling liquid and about 1 tsp reserved for later
1 tbsp of oil
1 tbsp of Gochujang
1 tbsp of tomato paste or dried tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
A pinch of chilli flakes or minced fresh chillies to taste
Finely chopped chives, about 1 tsp while cooking and 1 tsp for garnish

For the veggies:

2 cups of bite sized pieces of a variety of vegetables you have on hand; brocolli, baby corn, mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, bamboo shoot, cauliflower, green beans, mung sprouts are all great choices
2 tbsp of oil
1 square inch of ginger, thin sliced.
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Instructions for the rice:

Wash the rice well and soak it in water in deep, microwavable bowl.
After about 5 hours of soaking, the rice will have absorbed a lot of the water and swollen up quite a bit.
Drain most of the water and add the pork stock (skim most of the oil from the top and filter once) ensuring there is just enough to cover the rice.
Place the bowl in a microwave, cover it loosely with a microwavable plate and cook it on high for 5 minutes.
Take the bowl out of the microwave very carefully (the bowl will be very hot) and fluff up the rice with a fork.
Put it back in the microwave for another 5 minutes with the lid on and you will perfectly cooked sticky rice.

For the hot pork:

Place a sauce pan on high heat, throw in the pork, water, ginger, 1 tbsp of fish sauce and salt,place the lid and bring it to a boil.
Once it starts boiling, reduce the temperature to medium and with the lid on, and simmer until the pork is cooked through and the rind is beautiful tender and gelatinous.
Turn off the heat and set aside.
Now fish out the pork and once cool enough to handle, cut into pieces as desired and pat dry.
Skim out the fat and reserve the liquid for later use; I have used some to cook the sticky rice here, also very delicious in noodle soups, stews etc
Place a wok on high heat and add a tbsp of oil.
Meanwhile, grind 2 gloves of garlic and the dry tomatoes; if using tomato paste, mix the ground garlic with Gochujang, tomato paste and fish sauce to make the hot paste
Add the paste in the wok and cook on medium until most of the liquid is evaporated and/or the oil starts to separate.
Add the pork and a tsp spoon of chive and stir well yet carefully to combine well.
Cook on medium for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring every two minutes.
Take off the heat, plate it up and sprinkle some chopped chive.

For the gingered veggies:

In the same wok, add 2 tbsp of oil on medium heat (watch the wok carefully, you don’t want the leftover juices from the hot pork to burn)
Once hot, add in the ginger and stir to combine well with the juices in the wok
After about 30 seconds, add the vegetables, the salt and splash of water
Stir well and place the lid back on and cook stirring every couple of minutes until al-dente.
Serve and enjoy!