Taiwanese Meat Sauce

Confession time: I didn't really know anything about Taiwan until college.  Which means I didn't know anything about Taiwanese food until college, either!  So sad.

My friend Jen Che has an award-winning food blog that occasionally highlights Taiwanese food recipes and we've used this one the most.  It's a simple comfort food and it takes very little time to put together.  I always add more black mushrooms because they're delicious.

Thanks, Jen!  I love your site!

Taiwanese Meat Sauce Over Rice

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.