Babi Pongteh (braised pork with bamboo shoots)

Description:

This is not the prettiest of dish but I can assure you it's one of the tastiest. I obtain this recipe from Sylvia Tan's Mad about Food: (Mis) Adventures in the Kitchen. I used to read her columns about food on the Singapore's The Sunday Times which was always passionately written.

I tweak the recipe a little (below is my version and not verbatim from the book) due to a few findings:
a. always brown the meat separately before stewing to ensure that the meat remains tender
b. I can't find the preserved brown soy beans (or tau cheow) so I use Lee Kum Kee's black bean sauce instead to a similar but thicker and richer taste.

The dish is best left in the fridge for a few days before being consumed. With fragrant, hot, steaming white rice, it is my comfort food after a hard day of work.

Ingredients:
200 - 300 gram of lean pork
1 can of winter bamboo shoots
5-6 dried shitakee
1 cup hot water
vegetable oil
3 teaspoon preserved brown soy beans (or to taste)
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
1 teaspoon of chopped shallots
1 cup water (Or less depending on taste. I like mine a little thick)
pinch of sugar
whole chilies (ends snapped) to taste - optional

Directions:
Wash the pork and cut into chunky pieces.
Cut winter bamboo shoots into same-sized wedges.
Soak the dried shitakee in hot water until softened. Drain but reserve the soaking water.
Halve or quarter the softened mushroom.

Brown the pork pieces to seal the juice.