While I truly believe the crunchy, crispy crackling of a well-cooked pork belly simply can't be beaten, at times I like to prepare mine a little differently. This Vietnamese inspired dish is cooked low and slow, with fragrant spices, soy sauce and palm sugar melding together to make a rich, deeply flavoured caramel sauce. It's so rich that you don't need much of it to go a long way - and it's always nice served with something light and crispy like freshly pickled cucumber or a Vietnamese slaw!
Serves 4
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 1.5 hours
Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1kg pork belly, cut into bite size pieces
4 eschallots, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup grated palm sugar
1 cup water
2 star anise
2 tsp Vietnamese five spice (I still have some sachets left from our last trip to Vietnam - but Chinese five spice will work great too!)
1 tbsp fish sauce
4 spring onions, green part only, sliced on the diagonal
Coriander and Vietnamese mint leaves.
Steamed rice, to serve
Method
Heat the oil in a wok. Add the pork belly in two batches and cook, turning, until browned on all sides. Remove to a plate.
Add the garlic and eschallot to the wok and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes.
Return the pork to the pan and add the star anise and five spice. Stir until the pork is coated and the spice mix is fragrant.
Add soy sauce, palm sugar and water. Lower the heat under the wok and cover with a lid. Cook for 1.5 hours until the pork is dark and sticky.
Take the pork off the heat and stir through the fish sauce. Serve with the steamed rice and top with spring onion, coriander and Vietnamese mint.
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