Peruvian pork roll (pan con chicharron)

In Peru, chicharrón refers to succulent pork, which is braised and then fried in its own fat. It forms the basis of this popular snack, piled onto a roll with fried sweet potato and a spicy onion salsa. We’ve added a sauce made from Peru’s ubiquitous aji amarillo chilli, and have used pork belly roasted in the oven for ease.

• serves

  6

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  2:45 hours

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 1 kg piece pork belly, skin on, scored
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 sweet potato (kumera), peeled, cut into 8mm-thick slices
• vegetable oil, to shallow-fry
• 6 French white rolls, halved

Onion salsa

• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped, plus extra leaves, to serve
• 1 bird’s-eye chilli, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Aji amarillo sauce

• 200 g (⅔ cup) mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp aji amarillo chilli paste (see Note)

Resting time 30 minutes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 160ºC. Place pork belly in a roasting tray, rub 2 teaspoons of salt into skin and drizzle with oil. Place in oven and roast for 2 hours or until tender, then increase heat to 200ºC and cook for a further 25 minutes or until skin is crisp. Set aside to rest.

To make salsa, place onion in a bowl, cover with cold, salted water and set aside for 30 minutes. Drain then toss with remaining salsa ingredients.

Meanwhile, place sweet potato in a saucepan of cold, salted water and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes or until just tender when pierced with a knife. Drain and cool, then pat dry with paper towel.

Heat 1 cm oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Working in batches, fry sweet potato for 4 minutes on each side or until golden.

To make aji amarillo sauce, combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cut pork belly into thick pieces. Heat frying pan over medium heat and toast rolls on both sides, if desired. Spread bases with aioli then top with sweet potato slices, pork belly pieces, onion salsa, coriander and bun tops.

Note

• The Goya brand of aji amarillo chilli paste is available from specialist food shops and delis.

Photography by Brett Stevens. Styling by Kirsten Jenkins.

As seen in Feast magazine, June 2014, Issue 32. 

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.