Braised pork belly with coconut, pineapple and chilli

This sweet and unctuous braise is not simply about heat. The chillies are mild in parts, fruity and wonderfully colourful. It’s also tempered by coconut milk plus pineapple, traditionally cooked but served here fresh and sweet.

Credit: Under Coconut Skies

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

A few regions in the Philippines are known for their love of chilli, including Bicol, where Bicolanos add handfuls of fiery sili (chillies) to almost every meal. Synonymous with the region is Bicol express, a dish that some believe is named after a now-defunct train line that ran from Manila to the region; while others claim it’s because you can run a similar speed to the train after eating this chilli-laden dish.

Ingredients

• 60 ml (¼ cup) vegetable oil
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 cm (2½ in) piece of ginger, peeled, finely grated
• 3 Asian shallots, thinly sliced
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) skinless boneless pork belly, cut into 4-cm × 1-cm strips
• 800 ml (27 fl oz) coconut milk
• 2 bird’s eye chillies, thinly sliced
• 6 long red and green chillies, deseeded, thinly sliced into rounds
• 200 ml (7 fl oz) coconut cream
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• ¼ fresh pineapple, skin and core removed, cut into 5-mm (¼ in) dice
• steamed rice, to serve

Instructions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a flameproof casserole dish over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger and sautè for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the shallot, then season with salt and pepper and sautè for 4 minutes or until soft. Remove from the dish and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the dish over high heat. Add half the pork, season and sautè for 4 minutes or until well browned. Remove from the dish, then repeat with the remaining pork.
3. Return the pork belly and shallot mixture to the dish, add the coconut milk, bird’s eye chilli and half the long chilli and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 40–45 minutes, until the pork is tender and the coconut mixture ‘cracks’ (the oil separates from the coconut milk); the mixture will become very thick, so make sure to scrape the base of the dish often in the last 10 minutes.
4. Add the coconut cream (reserving a little to serve) and fish sauce and stir for 1–2 minutes until warmed through.
5. Remove the dish from the heat and season with black pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl, scatter over the remaining long chilli and serve with the pineapple and rice.

 

Recipe and image from Under Coconut Skies by Yasmin Newman, Smith Street Books, RRP $55.00.

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.

A few regions in the Philippines are known for their love of chilli, including Bicol, where Bicolanos add handfuls of fiery sili (chillies) to almost every meal. Synonymous with the region is Bicol express, a dish that some believe is named after a now-defunct train line that ran from Manila to the region; while others claim it’s because you can run a similar speed to the train after eating this chilli-laden dish.