“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.
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.
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Do you think you could throw in some peeled hard boiled eggs into the braising liquid to make lu dan while you’re at it?
Hmm . . that’s a great idea! I think I’ll try it next time.
this looks so good…
Looks yummy! It’d be great if you made your recipes available in “printable format” too (w/o pictures). the pictures do look yummy though!!
Hi Karen,
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll look into that as my next big project. It will probably be labor intensive, but I think well worth the effort. Thanks for the suggestion!
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There used to be this joint across from campus that sold the best Taiwanese ground beef with rice and I loved it – I should try out this recipe… looking at your pictures is very nostalgic of those days.
Hi! So I know this comment is coming a bit late, considering your post is like.. a year old, but i’m going to be using this recipe tomorrow! 😀 i’m doing a test-run for a fundraising event! (: thanks so much! it looks SO good.
I sat salivating for half an hour before motivating to the grocery for shallots. I live in Fresno, CA where there is a decided dearth of real Chinese, let alone Taiwanese, food. I can’t thank you enough. Delicious.
You’re welcome! Enjoy . . . it really is super easy!!
Great! I’ve been looking for a recipe like this since I tasted one in Taipei years ago. As I’ve not yet gone all the way thru your blog…perhaps there’s a recipe for shredded chicken on top of rice (with some sorta of sauce)? Then the pork dish where the cooking vessel is never washed?
just made, tastes like home :). Thanks for the easy resipe!
thrilled that you liked it! It’s such a great, easy go-to recipe. 🙂
Did you mean teaspoon or tablespoon?
Big T means tablespoon. Little t mrans teaspoon.
Thank you for putting a recipe. I have been making this for about 8 years but when I got the recipe from my mom it was put this, this and this in and then its done. No measurements not time nothing. Hopefully this will allow me to make it so it comes out more consistently.
好吃！
This is great! I LOVE your blog. Keep it up!
Can you substitute the shallots for onions? Would it change the flavor?
I bet it would still be pretty good with onions. Shallots are milder and a bit more sweet than onions, so it might change the flavor a bit. I’m guessing it would still be pretty tasty though.
Thank you. The recipe was easy to follow. I made my first Taiwanese meat sauce after 25 years in Taiwan!
I’ve lived in Taiwan now for seven years and have eaten luroufan a lot…but always out. I think I’ll try to make this at home and see how it comes out. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Can we have a pressure cooker version? 🙂
Yes instant pot version pls
I’ve been following your blog on and off for years and it’s my go to when I feel like making Chinese food.
I just want to say the recipe was awesome and thank you for posting. Whenever I try a new Taiwanese restaurant I always order their lu ruo fan. I’m a mother of two young children and I liked how easy this was to make, but still very flavorful!
Hi, is it possible to not use five spice powder? Any substitute for it by any chance?
I’ve never tried using anything else, but 5-spice typically consists of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns, so you could try a subset of those ingredients?
Do you have this recipe in a slow cooker version?
Thank you,
Cindy
Not yet, but I think I’ll work on one!