Taiwanese Meat & Mushroom Sauce with Rice

I’ve made a Taiwanese meat sauce before and in that recipe I mention that it can be made with chunks of pork, as that was, or with minced pork, as of course this is.

This is basically then a Chinese spaghetti bolognese, Taiwanese style and can be served over noodles, or as I have done here, rice.

I think that Taiwanese stewed pork is 滷肉, read as 'lu rou' in Mandarin and when boiled eggs are simmered in the sauce in this manner they are called 滷蛋 or 'lu dan'. How they come together as a name for the whole I’m not sure (and I have probably got it wrong anyway).


Taiwanese Meat & Mushroom Sauce
serves 1

100g minced pork
10g dried shitake mushroom, soaked and roughly chopped (keep the soaking water)
1 tsp dried shrimps (soaked and roughly chopped)
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped (reserve some green parts for garnish)
½ tsp five spice powder
2 tbsp sweet soy (I used kecap manis)
1 tsp light soy
½ tbsp Chinese black vinegar
1 small dried red chilli
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tsp sunflower oil
1 hard boiled egg, peeled
crispy fried shallot, to serve

Top up the reserved mushroom soaking water to 150ml and set aside.

Heat a wok and when hot add the oil and then the garlic and onion, stir fry for a couple of minutes till softened and lightly golden.

Add the dried shrimps and stir till fragrant and then add the pork mince, breaking it up into small pieces with the back of a wooden spoon. Keep stirring until the meat is almost cooked through and the wok is dry.

Add the wine and stir for a minute or so before adding the mushrooms and 5-spice. Keep stirring for another couple of minutes.

Add the soy sauces, vinegar and dried chilli.

Turn the heat up and add the diluted mushroom soaking water, bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook gently for at least 10-20 minutes (the longer the better as the pork will get more tender with increased cooking time). Stir occasionally and top up the water if necessary if it is getting too dry.

Add the egg.

Nestle the egg into the sauce for at least another 20-30 minutes, turning occasionally.

Serve the sauce over rice or noodles with the boiled egg halved and some spring onion greens and crispy shallots scattered over.