Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Post-Holiday Decadence: Braised Pork Belly With Chilli


In the mood for some good old fatty pork belly today, with thick sauce ladled over steaming white rice. This is real comfort food! Recipe adapted from one in Neil Perry's Good Food.
1. Take 1/2 kg of pork belly, and cut into chunks. Heat up some oil in a large frying pan and fry the pork belly, adding some sea salt at the same time. Fry the pork belly over medium heat for half an hour, turning occasionally, till the pork is brown and some of the fat has melted off. Pour away the excess fat.
2. While frying the pork belly, mash up 2 cloves of garlic and 5 dried chillies (I used fresh chillies which works well too) into a puree. Add this mixture together with 2 cups of water to the pork belly mixture, one bay leaf, and 1 piece of orange rind (I used fresh orange peel but the dried orange peel available at traditional chinese medicine halls would be good too). Neil Perry's recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin which I skipped as I did not have it readily available in my store cupboards.
3. Braise the mixture for 2 hours, adding water as needed, till the pork is meltingly tender and the sauce has thickened.

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