Asian braised & twice cooked pork belly
Recipe submitted by ejade03
Melt-in-the-mouth braised pork belly finished in the oven to crispen the fat with a reduced sticky honey (braising liquid) sauce to finish!
Serves 4
Ingredients
- For The Pork
- 1 - 1½ kg pork belly – bone in [more flavor – optional]
- Slash the skin on the diagonal 1cm apart and generously salt - leave uncovered for 60 minutes. (Rinse off the salt before braising).
- For the Braising Liquid
- 2lt chicken stock [8 cups]
- 2 thumb ginger - sliced
- 4 cloves garlic - whole is fine - skin off
- 4 star anise
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice
- 1 tsp cardamom pods - whole
- 2 cinnamon stick - whole
- 3 red chili - roughly chopped [optional]
- 1 Lemongrass stalk - crushed
- 1 tsp mustard seeds - whole
- 1 tsp coriander seeds - whole
- 1 tsp Szechwan pepper - whole
- 150ml Kecap Manis – Indonesian sweet thick soy [2/3 cup]
- 250ml light soy [1 cup]
- 300ml shao xing [Chinese cooking wine] [1 1/3 cups]
- 100g Chinese rock sugar [3 oz] or palm sugar if easier to find
- 250ml honey [1 cup]
Method
- Place Pork Belly into a large pot, cover with the chicken stock. Add all ingredients except for honey.
- Bring to boil, and then turn down heat to a simmer. Place a plate or small pot lid directly onto the pork belly to keep it submerged.
- Cook for approximately 3 hours. When you can pass a skewer through the belly with ease, it is ready.
- Take care when removing the pork belly from the stock. Place on cutting board and remove the bones and sinue (they should easilyi pop out of the tender meat). Score the skin slightly in a checkered pattern.
- Place onto greaseproof paper and place in a pre-heated fan-forced oven 230 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.
- NB - (The higher the oven temp the better the skin crisps - however note the piece of pork MUST be whole (ie. you haven't pre-cut the portions - OR your piece is not smaller than the size required by this recipe (1 - 1½ kg's) because if you have a small piece in the oven for that long on that high a temperature, it will dry out - I have made that mistake once - don't do it! Just remember if it is smaller than 1 - 1½ kg's then either don't cook it as long, or turn the oven down a little. In any event, the fat is supposed to be succulent - the oven simply finishes it off).
- Meanwhile strain the reserved stock into a pan and add honey. Reduce it until a nice coating consistency is achieved. (This may take a while to reduce, sometimes up to 30 mins). The sauce is ready.
- To serve place pork belly onto the plate with wilted bok choy, steamed rice, drizzled with sauce over the pork.
Notes & Tips
I also like to serve this dish with a fresh salsa on the side, using kiwi fruit, red onion, hot chilli, fresh mint and coriander. The zing of the salsa cuts through the richness of the pork and is a lovely balance.
