Asian Pork Belly with Szechuan Cabbage

We rarely eat pork belly in our house. I have never been a fan of fat and although you can render a great deal of it out of pork belly (when cooked properly), it still seems wrong. BUT, having said that - a little on a rare occasion makes it okay to me. Having properly prepared it, marinated and cooked for some hours..it was ready and the smell in the house was amazing.

I like rice and cabbage with this dish but I felt it needed a good sauce to go with - so here it is. Asian Pork Belly with Szechuan Cabbage and a delicious sauce. Enjoy!

Ingredients:      (Serves 3-4)

For the pork:
800g-1kg piece pork belly
2 tbsp. brown rice miso paste
1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tbsp. five spice powder

Score the pork skin and fat only, in about 1 cm slices. Pop in a (clean) sink and pour over a kettle full of boiling water. Remove, pat dry with kitchen paper and put in the fridge, uncovered and skin side up on a plate, to dry out while you make the marinade.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Take the pork belly and turn it over exposing the flesh. Using a sharp knife stab lots of small cuts into the flesh (making sure not to go right through). Pour the marinade over the flesh only and rub in well. You can put this back in the fridge to marinate if you have time. If not, it can be cooked straight away.

Pre heat oven to hottest setting (about 240C or so). Find a wire rack that fits into a roasting tin and place the pork belly on it, skin side up - roast for 20 mins to let the skin bubble up. Then oven the oven door and add some water to the roasting tray, about an inch. Turn the oven down to 160C and leave to roast for a further 2.5 hours, topping up the water if it dries out. When then time is up (see note at the bottom), remove from the oven and leave to rest for ten minutes or so, while you make the sauce.

For the sauce:
1 tbsp. sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsp. tomato ketchup
1 tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tbsp. Chinese rice vinegar
3 tbsp. soy sauce

Put all of the sauce ingredients into a saucepan. Bring to the boil and then turn down to simmer for 5 mins.

For the cabbage:
Half a head of savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
1 tbsp. Szechuan peppercorns
1 tbsp. oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced
pinch chilli flakes
1tbsp. soy sauce

Heat the oil in a wok (or similar) and add the peppercorns. Stir fry until fragrant ( a couple of minutes on a high heat) and then use a slotted spoon to remove them, keeping the hot flavoured oil in the pan.

Add the cabbage to the oil along with the garlic and chilli flakes. Stir fry for a few minutes, still on a high heat, until the cabbage is tender. Add the soy sauce for the last minute of cooking. 

To serve:

Slice the pork belly and arrange on a plate. Add some cabbage and rice and dress with the warm sauce. Garnish with coriander and spring onions. Enjoy!

Note: If the skin isn't crispy enough at the end of cooking time, you can put back in the oven on a high heat for 5 minutes.