Our Chinese-inspired pork belly guarantees tender meat, crispy crackling and a tasty spiced orange sauce for drizzling – it looks fancy but is simple.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg piece boneless pork belly,
- skin scored at 1 cm intervals
- 4 star anise
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4–6 pak choi, white part halved or
- quartered, green leafy part chopped
- Cooked sticky rice, sliced spring onions
- and chilli, and sesame seeds, to serve
- For the marinade:
- 100 ml light soy sauce
- Juice 3 large oranges (save the shells)
- 80 ml Chinese cooking wine
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil, plus extra
- for roasting
- 5 cm piece ginger, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
Instructions
- The day before, mix all the marinade ingredients in a non-reactive container. Pat the pork skin dry and add to the container, skin side up. Chill, uncovered, overnight.
- Heat oven to 220°C. Remove pork from container; reserve the marinade.
- Pat the skin dry again, rub with oil and sprinkle liberally with salt, working it into the score marks. Put in a roasting tin and roast for 30 min until the skin is crackled.
- Turn down the oven to 150°C. Pour the reserved marinade around the pork; avoid the skin. Add the spices and orange shells. Roast for 2 hrs until the meat is tender.
- Set the pork to rest, uncovered. Increase the oven to 220°C. Skim the pan juices, discarding any fat. Add the white part of the pak choi and roast for 10 min until tender, then toss in the leafy part and roast for a further 5 min to wilt.
- Slice the pork and serve with the pak choi and sticky rice, topped with spring onions, chilli, sesame seeds and pan juices.
ALSO SEE:
Cumin-crusted pork fillet with aubergine and tomato curry
Featured Image: W&H
