Lu rou fan, or stewed pork with rice, is a very common dish in Taiwan. The pork is seasoned and stewed until very tender and served over rice. Meat that’s stewed like this is fork-tender, something I really like. It’s a simple and satisfying dish considered comfort food by many.
It is very similar to the Vietnamese thit heo kho in that it’s stewed pork seasoned primarily with soy sauce and eaten with rice. So I feel right at home eating this stuff. However, lu rou fan has more ingredients and spices added, giving it a unique flavor.
Cuts of meat
Depending on where you order this, the cut of meat and seasonings will vary. Lu rou fan benefits from a good balance of fatty and non fatty cuts of pork. Many recipes for this call for pork belly.
Belly with the skin on is a bit too much for me, so I’d remove some of the skin and some of the rendered fat before stewing. Because of how fatty and salty lu rou fan can be, it naturally goes well with pickles (again, similar to thit heo kho).
This balances well with a side of greens such as kai lan.
Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese Stewed Pork with Hard-Boiled Eggs)
Ingredients
Aromatics
- 4 shallots or substitute 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
Meat
- 1.25 lb pork belly or shoulder
Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce for color
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 star anise
- 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
- 1-2 inches of cinnamon stick
- 1.5-2 tbsp ginger sliced
- 4 shiitake mushrooms optional
Final Additions
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 stalk scallion finely chopped
Instructions
- Cut pork into small cubes. Chop shallots and mince garlic.
- Saute pork until brown. Remove meat (leave fat in pan) and saute the shallot and garlic on medium-high heat until lightly browned. Remove from pan, then saute mushrooms.
- Add everything back into the pan, including the soy sauce, rice vinegar, dark soy sauce, water and spices (star anise, 5 spice, cinnamon, and ginger). Simmer for about 30-60 minutes or until tender. Add the eggs during the last 10-15 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped scallion
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What an interesting dish! I am bookmarking it! I love pork and I will take any excuse to use eggs in my recipes.
Same here! If it’s not already part of a dish I’ll find a way to work in a fried egg-of-the-day.
Hooray for Taiwanese lu rou fan! 🙂 I remember getting this from my auntie in Taiwan as a kid and eating until I couldn’t breathe. Thanks for the upload!
Hi! I love your website! I think this would be a great dish to make for Hubby’s birthday since he is native Taiwanese. If not using pork belly, what cut of pork do you suggest using?
Hey Anna! You can use shoulder or butt here as well. Choose something with a level of fat you like and simmer til soft 🙂