Glazed spiced pork belly with red rice and pineapple salad

• serves

  4-6

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  2 hours

Ingredients

• 1.4 kg piece pork belly 
• 1½ cups SunRice Red Rice

Master stock 

• 3 litres water
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled 
• 30 g fresh ginger, peeled, sliced
• 4 star anise 
• 2 cinnamon quills
• 1 cup soy sauce 
• ½ cup Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
• ¼ cup brown sugar

Sticky glaze

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 1 cinnamon quill
• 2 star anise 
• 2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

Pineapple salad 

• 250 g fresh pineapple, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups firmly packed watercress sprigs 
• 1 cup firmly packed coriander leaves
• 1-2 small red chillies, seeded, finely sliced 
• 2 cups bean sprouts, trimmed
• ½ small red onion, cut into thin wedges

Instructions

Place pork belly in a stockpot and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming the surface to remove any foam. Drain, then rinse pork under cold running water. Set aside. Clean the stockpot.

Place all the master stock ingredients in the stockpot. Bring to the boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add pork, partially cover with a lid and simmer for 1½ hours. Remove pork from stock and set aside to cool. Reserve 1 cup of the strained master stock.

Cook rice according to directions on pack.

Meanwhile, cut the cooled pork crossways into 1.5 cm thick slices. Place all the sticky glaze ingredients and the reserved master stock into a large frying pan. Stir over a medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add the pork and simmer for 20-30 minutes, turning the pork regularly until the liquid has thickened and caramelized.

Meanwhile, place all the pineapple salad ingredients together and toss gently.

Serve pork belly over red rice and drizzle with glaze. Serve with pineapple salad or steamed Asian greens.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.