I was blessed to recieve another delivery of amazing pork products from Murray Valley Pork. I was totally stocked to see that my package contained some pork belly – and what a generous piece of pork belly it was!
Murray Valley Pork is a premium pork range. It has been hand selected from only the finest quality and undergoes a rigorous selection process in order to be selected into the Murray Valley Pork range. It is produced in accordance with the high Quality Assurance Standards of the Moisture-infused Quality Certified Trustmark.
But you know what really matters – it always gives me the BEST crackling. And seriously, when you’re enjoying pork, I think that is all that really matters.
I wanted to think outside the square with this pork belly and create something ‘Asian inspired’… I thought that I would make a nice spice rub for the pork belly containing; cloves, star anise, cinnamon, sichuan peppercorns, chilli, Chinese five spice and ground ginger. And then just let the crackling to it’s thing.
ASIAN STYLE PORK BELLY
5 cloves
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon sichuan peppercorns
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground Chinese five spice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1.5 kgs pork belly, skin on
1 tablespoon rice bran oil
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 cup palm sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons water
1 lime
12 kifler potatoes
1/2 butternut pumpkin
Asian greens
Place the spices in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until fragrant. Transfer to your food processor and process until coarsely ground.
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Rub the pork belly with oil and rub the extra sea salt flakes into the skin. Place the pork – skin side down – on a baking tray. Rub the underside of the pork belly with the spice mix and roast for 1 hour.
Increase the oven to 180 degrees and then turn the pork belly over, add the halved kipfler potatoes and cook for another hour or until the skin is golden and crunchy. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before carving.
Whilst the pork belly is roasting, boil the pumkin so that you can make a puree, steam the greens and make the sauce. Place the palm sugar, vinegars and water in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add the lime juice and cook for 5 minutes or until syrupy.
To serve, lay down a bed of pumpkin puree, top with sliced pork belly, arrange the greens and potatoes around and then drizzle with the sauce… and as Manu says ‘you can never have too much sauce’.
