- Recipe Difficulty: Medium
- Prep Time: 20-30 minutes
- Cooking Time: 2 ½ hours
Belly pork is certainly seeing a revival across pub & restaurant menus in Britain, but many of our customers say they are unsure about cooking it at home.
This recipe is a twist on traditional belly pork recipes that we have tried in the past. With an Asian inspired flavour that is sweet, sticky and a little spicy too, it is a real crowdpleaser. Slow-cooked until tender and then finished with a sticky chilli glaze, this is belly pork like you have never tasted before.
We use our Belly pork strips for this recipe which are cut from the underside of the pig. This popular pork joint is full of flavour and lends itself well to slow roasting, resulting in a tender and extremely tasty cut of pork. For this recipe the strips are initially cut in half, and then once they have been slow roasted are cut into small cubes for the final ‘glazing’ stages.
We have chosen to serve the pork with homemade egg fried rice, but you can also easily serve it with salt & pepper chips (for an extra treat), sesame noodles or some simple (and slightly healthier) boiled rice!
Ingredients (To serve 3-4)
- 1 kg (2.2 lbs) rindless pork belly slices chopped in half
- 1 litre hot chicken stock
- 1 thumb sized piece of ginger peeled and minced (or 1 tbsp of ginger puree)
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp rice wine
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
Glaze:
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- Pinch salt and pepper
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger peeled and minced
- 1 red chilli finely chopped
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tsp lemon grass paste
To Serve:
- Chopped spring onions
- Chopped red chillies
- Chopped fresh coriander
- Rice / 2 Eggs / Oil / Soy / Spring Onions
Method
STEP 1 – Slow Roasting
Add the halved pork belly slices, stock, ginger, garlic, rice wine, and sugar to a heavy-based pan (or casserole pan)
Bring to the boil, then place a lid on, turn down the heat and simmer for 2 hours. Turn off the heat, remove the pork from the pan and pat it dry using a piece of kitchen towel. You can reserve the liquid if you like to use it for soup stock. Chop the pork into bite sized chunks.
STEP 2 – Making the glaze
In a bowl, mix together 1 tbsp of the oil, along with a pinch of salt and pepper and the ginger, chilli, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, and lemongrass paste.
STEP 3 – Crisping the pork pieces
Add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil to a frying pan and heat over a medium-high heat.
Add in the pork, along with a pinch of salt and pepper, and fry, turning regularly until the pork starts to turn golden. This stage can cause a little ‘splattering’ so maybe use a pan splatter guard if you have one.
STEP 4 – Glazing the pork
Once crispy, pour the glaze over the pork and continue to cook for a couple of minutes, turning the pork often, until the pork looks dark and sticky. Remove from the heat ready for serving.
STEP 5 – Egg fried rice to serve
We like to keep it simple with our egg fried rice, simply cook your rice ( we always go for basmati) and drain. Heat a wok or large pan and add two eggs that you have mixed together in a cup. Scramble the eggs, and add a little salt and pepper to taste. Once the eggs are ¾ of the way cooked, tip in the rice, a tbsp of oil and splash with some soy sauce around the edges. Add a little chopped spring onion and keep moving the ingredients around the pan.
STEP 6 – Serving
Add a generous portion of rice to a bowl and top with the sticky belly pork. Sprinkle with extra chilli if desired, some spring onion and a little coriander if you have any.
Enjoy!!!
