Plum sauce adds a different depth of flavour to pork belly which you can’t achieve using just regular gravy. The added aromatics and spices complement the juicy meat to perfection.
Ingredients
Roasted Pork Belly with Plum Sauce
- 800 g boned pork belly, rind on
- 2 tsps salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 250 ml water
- 375 ml chicken stock
- 2 tbsps soy sauce
- 60 ml Chinese cooking wine
- 55 g firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- 15 g fresh ginger, sliced thinly
- 1 cinnamon stick, crushed
- 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
- 80 ml orange juice
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 4 plums, cut into eight wedges
Cucumber Salad
- 1 Lebanese cucumber
- 1 long green chilli, sliced thinly
- 2/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp caster sugar
Steps
Preheat oven to moderate.
Place pork on board, rind-side up. Using sharp knife, score rind by making shallow cuts diagonally in both directions at 3-cm intervals; rub combined salt and oil into cuts.
Combine the water, stock, soy sauce, wine, sugar, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, chilli, juice, cloves and fennel in large shallow baking dish. Place pork in dish, rind-side up; roast, uncovered, in moderate oven 1 hour 20 mins. Increase oven temperature to very hot. Roast pork, uncovered, in very hot oven about 15 mins or until crackling is crisp.
Remove pork from dish; cover to keep warm. Strain liquid in baking dish into medium saucepan, skim away surface fat; bring to a boil. Add plum, reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, about 15 mins or until plum sauce thickens.
For the cucumber salad, cut cucumber lengthways into ribbons using a vegetable peeler. Place cucumber in large bowl with remaining ingredients; toss gently to combine.
Serve thickly sliced pork with plum sauce and salad.
Recipe & Photo: The Australian Women’s Weekly/BauerSyndication.com.au