Vietnamese-style caramelized pork belly

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This dish is so full of the sticky, sweet, deep umami flavours that will have you craving this dish over and over again.

Pork belly is slowly braised in a sweet and salty bath, that turns from a liquid into a sticky glaze that surrounds the tender pork.

Don’t be put off by the amount of ingredients in this dish. While there are a lot of items in this recipe, it’s simple and straightforward to put together.

This recipe is set into three parts: marinating, cooking, and the best part, eating.

While this would be a lovely filling for a bao bun or fusion-style tacos, I prefer to serve over broken rice, sprinkled with red chilies, cilantro, and green onions.

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Vietnamese-style caramelized pork belly

Vietnamese-style caramelized pork belly

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2.5 lb pork belly, cut into 1 inch cubes

• 4 shallots, sliced

• 4 cloves garlic, chopped

• 2 tbs ginger, grated

• 2 tbs chopped lemongrass

• 1 cup chicken stock

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar

• 1/3 cup soy sauce

• 1/4 cup fish sauce

• 1/4 cup sweet dark soy sauce

• 2 tbs oil for frying

• Sliced chilies chopped cilantro and sliced green onions for garnish (optional)

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Instructions

1. Place pork belly cubes into a large bowl.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, apart from the oil and garnish.

3. Stir to combine, cover and leave to marinade in the fridge for 30 minutes.

4. Place a large pot or Dutch oven on the stove. Add oil for frying and heat over medium high heat.

5. Drain the pork, reserving the marinade and cook in batches until lightly browned but not cooked through.

6. Add the browned pork and the marinade into the pot.

7. Bring to a boil and simmer slowly for 40 minutes.

8. Once the pork is tender, turn up the heat to medium high to evaporate the liquid and form the glaze around the pork.

9. Serve with broken rice, sprinkled with green onion, chilies and cilantro.

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