Taiwanese Meat Sauce over Rice (lo bah png)

"Lo bah bng," a meat sauce made of ground pork cooked in soy sauce with shallots and spices, is very classic Taiwanese home cooking. Whenever I have this, I am reminded of the food my mom used to make.

It's surprisingly easy to make - just takes time on the stove.

This recipe is adapted from Homestyle Cooking of Taiwan by members of NATWA

Ingredients
2 dried black mushrooms
5 shallots, minced
1/2 lb ground pork
1 t rice wine
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 cups water
1 t sugar
1/2 t 5-spice powder
6 cups rice (cooked)

Soak the mushrooms in hot water until soft. Meanwhile, mince the shallots. I used a food processor, which made it a lot easier. When mushrooms are soft, slice them into thin pieces.

Add 1 T of vegetable oil to a wok and put on medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add shallots and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes, until they start to brown a lot.

Add mushrooms and ground pork. Stir fry until the pork is cooked. Add rice wine, soy sauce, water, sugar, and 5-spice powder.

Let it simmer for 1 hour.

Ladle out the meat mixture and pour over rice.

There will be a lot of excess liquid. Leave that in the pot. You can optionally mix the meat sauce together with rice as well and garnish with some scallions and red pepper flakes.