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I got the idea of cooking Hong Shao Rou when I was visiting the doctor office.While waiting for hubby to see his orthopedic, I flip over an issue of Saveur magazine feature about Essential Stir-Fry Recipes.It's about how Chinese cook their stir-fry dishes with high flame or heat from the wok 镬气. One of the recipe that caught my attention was "Hong Shao Rou". Most of the time I cooked my mom version of braised pork belly but not the fancy Chinese name of "Hong Shao Rou".The different between my mom version and this dish was to crystallized sugar first before braising the pork belly. The common Mandarin name for this dish is “hong shao rou”, or literally, red cooked meat.Hong Shao Rou is a typical Hunan or Shanghai dish that is very popular in China.The name comes from the color of the soy sauce and crystallized sugar combination in which the meat is slow cooked.I hardly can find this dish in any Chinese restaurant in US.I understand red cooked pork was Chairman Mao Zedong favourite dish.Red-cooked dishes often include a mix of meat and vegetables and are similar to a western stew. Here is my version of Hong Shao Rou 紅燒肉..Enjoy! 
I adapted the recipe to suit my taste..
Original recipe HERE
Ingredients:
3 lbs pork belly,cut into cube
2 tbsp oil
4-5 cloves garlic,peeled and chopped
2 inch ginger,scale the skin and sliced thin
2 tbsp caramel soy sauce or premium thick soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
4 pod of anise
3 tbsp shaoxing wine
salt to taste
Method:1:Heat medium size wok or stockpot at high heat with oil ,ginger,star anise and garlic.(preferly use stainless steel wok but I used hard anodize stockpot)
2:When ginger and garlic is slightly brown or fragrant,add in sugar to caramelize.Add in pork belly,caramel soy sauce,shaoxing wine and salt.Toss all ingredients until well combined.
3:Reduce heat to medium low,cover, and simmer until pork is tender, about 40–50 minutes. Check the seasoning.
4:Uncover, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring, until liquid reduces .Thicken texture or absorb to the meat.
5:Remove from heat ,dish out,serve warm with steamed rice or mantau(plain pau)
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