Slow-cooked meat is a thing of beauty, and you can often transform a simple, inexpensive cut of meat into something really special.
Pork belly has a high fat content, which helps to keep it moist throughout cooking; crackling is nothing short of spectacular when done well.
Eastern spices work wonders here and the addition of flavour to both the crackling and the meat really give something extra.
Serves: 6
Ingredients
1.5kg pork belly
4-5 tablespoon garlic oil
2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
5 green cardamom pods, cracked
3 black cardamom pods
1 finger-sized piece of cinnamon bark (not cinnamon sticks)
175ml cloudy apple juice
Juice of 2 oranges
3 heaped teaspoon sea salt flakes, crushed
175ml water
Method
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C /gas 2.
Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Score the fat on the top of the pork belly in strips about 1cm apart. Rub the garlic oil all over the pork belly.
In a small bowl, combine the ground coriander, garlic powder, ginger, paprika, cumin and turmeric and work the spice rub all over the meat.
Place the joint on the baking tray. Add the green and black cardamom pods and the cinnamon bark, along with the apple juice, orange juice, and half the crushed sea salt flakes. Pour in 175ml of water up to where the fat starts . Sprinkle the remaining salt on top of the pork and rub in.
Roast without basting for five and half hours (dont be tempered to baste as you want get crispy crackling) Top with water when necessary.
Increase the temperature to 240 degree C Gas 9 and roast for a further 30 minutes or until the pork belly is deep brown and crispy. Cover loosely with kitchen foil and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
Original recipe Sabrina Ghayour
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