This was the signature dish for a popular restaurant here called Red Spice Road. Sadly the restaurant closed its doors after 13 years at the beginning of this year. Good for us foodies, they did share the full recipe online so the dish can still 'live' on. The full recipe can be found here but I've also transcribed it below for portion adjustments I have made/will make after cooking it. The quantity for the chilli caramel in the original recipe whilst very yummy was way too much, so I would recommend halving it in the recipe below. Likewise for the tapioca flour mixture. I would also make more slaw as it's a much needed relief to cut through the sweet sticky fatty pork belly.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Time: 8 hours (over 2 days)
Serves: 4
Ingredients
Pork
- 1kg piece pork belly, boneless
- 1 litre water
- 200ml light soy sauce
- 100ml sweet soy sauce
- 7 whole star anise
- 2 cups tapioca or rice starch
- 3 tbsp five-spice powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 litres vegetable oil for deep frying
- black vinegar to serve
Chilli Caramel
- 350g castor sugar
- 150ml water
- 1 small red chillies, chopped
- 7 whole star anise
- 75ml fish sauce
Apple Slaw
- 2 cup finely sliced Chinese cabbage
- 2 small handful coriander leaves
- 16 Vietnamese mint leaves
- 16 shiso leaves, finely sliced
- 10 mint leaves, torn
- 1 small green apple
Dressing
- 60ml lime juice
- 40ml fish sauce
- 2 tbsp castor sugar
Method
The Day Prior
1. Preheat the oven to 130C.
2. Pour the water in a cast iron pot, add the soy sauces and the star anise. Place the pork belly into the pot with lid on and cook it in the oven for 6 hours. Check occasionally to make sure that the liquid doesn't reduce too much. Add a little more water if required.
3. Take the pork belly out and put it on a a drying rack to cool in eth fridge overnight. Reserve the cooking liquid for use later.
On the Day
1. Take the pork out of the fridge, cut it into squares around 90 grams each, place in a large bowl and pour in around 100ml of the reserved cooking liquid. Stir to coat.
2. Combine the tapioca starch, five-spice powder and salt in a large bowl and mix together thoroughly.
3. Place the pork pieces into the starch and stir to coat them thoroughly. Remove the pork from the starch, shaking off any excess, and set aside on a tray for around 30 minutes to help the starch mix stick to the pork.
4. To make the chilli caramel, combine the sugar and water in a large saucepan. Place on to the heat and bring to the boil without stirring. Brush the sides of the saucepan occasionally with a wet pastry brush to stop crystals from forming. Add the chilli and star anise then continue to boil until the syrup turns a light tan colour.
5. Turn heat down to a simmer and add the fish sauce and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes. Strain and set aside.
6. To make the apple slaw, place all the ingredients apart from the apple into a bowl and set aside.
7. To make the dressing, place all the ingredients into a small bowl, mix together thoroughly and set aside.
8. Heat the oil in a pot and cook the pork in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the it. Cook the pieces for around five minutes, or until the outside is crisp and golden.
9. Place the pork into a serving bowl then pour over the chilli caramel. Cut the apple into matchsticks, add to the slaw and pour over the dressing, stirring to coat.
10. Place the pork on a plate with the slaw next to it. Drizzle with a bit of chilli caramel around it and serve with a small jug of black vinegar.
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