Pork Belly, Bone Broth Noodle Soup

You can skip the soy eggs (but honestly this is only a tad more difficult than boiling an egg and they are SO worth it). You can also swap out the pork belly for chicken or tofu, or just add extra vegetables. It’s a really adaptable dish. If some of the ingredients sound unusual don’t be scared, the Asian sauces such as Mirin and Chinese cooking wine are easy to find (in your supermarket or Asian grocery store) and really useful to have in the cupboard if you like to cook Asian style dishes. 

Ingredients

Pork Belly

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

4 eggs, room temperature

1/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup soy sauce 

1 TBSP Mirin

1 TBSP Chinese Cooking Wine (Shaoxing)

Udon noodles (substitute with soba, egg or rice noodles)

4 cups water

4 TBSP Mitchell’s Bone Broth Powder

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 TBSP Mirin

1 TBSP Chinese Cooking Wine

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed 

3cm fresh ginger, sliced

1/4 tsp Chinese Five Spice

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Bok Choy

Fresh Chilli, sliced

Spring Onions, sliced

 

Method

1. Ideally prepare the pork belly and soy eggs ahead of time. You can cook the pork belly just before you serve the soup but it does take an hour or two and the soy eggs need at least 2hrs to soak so it’s a good idea to get these two things happening ahead of time.

2. To make the pork belly: dry the pork belly off with a paper towel, rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 220C for 30mins then turn the oven down to 180C and cook for a further 45mins-1hr or until juices run clear. Note: We cook the pork the day before, once it’s cooled we wrap it tightly and chill overnight. This makes slicing easy and also makes the assembly of the soup faster. If you don’t have the time (or just aren’t that organised!) you can slice the pork as soon as it’s cooked and has rested for 15mins.

3. To make the soy eggs: Bring a pot of water to the boil and add 4 room temperature eggs - continue boiling for 6 minutes and 50 seconds. This is precise but gives you that delicious soft boil where the yolk is still a little runny. Immediately drop the boiled eggs into a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process. Mix the warm water, soy sauce, mirin and Chinese cooking wine together in a bowl and submerge the eggs. Cover and place in the fridge for 2hrs. Roll the eggs around in the soak every now and then. The eggs will keep for a few days. 

4. To make the soup broth: Place the water, Mitchell’s Bone Broth Powder, soy sauce, mirin, Chinese cooking wine, garlic, ginger, five spice, sugar and sesame oil in a pot, bring to a simmer. Meanwhile cook the noodles according to pack instructions and steam the bok choy (this only takes a couple of minutes so should be the last step). 

FIVE

To assemble: Remove ginger and garlic from the broth. Drain and place noodles into a serving bowl, ladle the broth over top. Place slices of the pork belly, bok choy and a soy egg (cut in half) on top and sprinkle with sliced chilli and spring onions. Grab some chop sticks and a soup spoon and dig in!